North Korea workers fail to turn up at Kaesong

North Korean employees have not reported for work at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, suspending one of the few points of cooperation between North and South Korea.

More than 50,000 North Koreans usually work at Kaesong

More than 120 South Korean companies operate in Kaesong, which is located inside North Korea.

About 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there.

It is the latest in a stream of provocations that have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"As of now, no North Korean workers have reported to work this morning," a spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry said.

The ministry added that 77 South Korean workers would leave the zone on Tuesday, but 479 were still inside Kaesong.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the boycott by North Korean workers would harm the country's credibility.

"Investment is all about being able to anticipate results and trust and when you have the North breaking international regulations and promises like this and suspending Kaesong while the world is watching, no country in the world will invest in the North," she told a cabinet meeting in Seoul.

Seen as a symbol of cross-border cooperation, Kaesong also provides hard currency for the North through taxes and the wages of the workers.

South Korean companies pay more than $80m a year in salaries. As a whole, the Kaesong complex produced $470m worth of goods last year.

It accounts for nearly all inter-Korean trade.

However, North Korea has blocked access to South Koreans working there since Wednesday.

On Monday it said it would withdraw all its own employees and suspend operations in the zone. A decision would come later on whether it would shut it down for good.

North Korea has expressed anger at South Korean media reports that the North would not shut down Kaesong because it's struggling economy is heavily dependent on the complex.

Pyongyang has engaged in continuous threats and provocations towards Seoul and the US, after sanctions sparked by its third nuclear test in February. US and South Korean joint military exercises have also angered North Korea.

Source: BBC

Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics