Last South Koreans leave Kaesong

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 03 Mei 2013 | 19.15

3 May 2013 Last updated at 06:18 ET

The final seven South Koreans workers have left a joint factory zone in North Korea, after the two Koreas resolved outstanding financial issues.

The workers had stayed behind after the other South Korean staff had left to negotiate wages demanded by the North.

Kaesong Industrial Complex has been at a standstill since North Korea withdrew its 50,000 workers in April.

The North has previously restricted entry to Kaesong, but this is the first time all South Koreans have withdrawn.

Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was launched in 2003, was seen as one of the last remaining symbols of inter-Korean co-operation.

North-South tensions escalated following Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February.

'Accounting issues'

The last seven South Korean workers had been expected to cross the border at 17:30 local time (08:30 GMT) on Friday, but did not return until about an hour later. There was no immediate explanation for the delay.

South Korean vehicles loaded with the outstanding North Korean wages crossed into North Korea around the same time.

South Korean news agency Yonhap then reported that the return of the vehicles and the personnel delivering the cash to the North had been delayed.

It also quoted an unnamed official as saying that Seoul had wanted to retrieve South Korean products and components left behind at the complex, but that North Korea had refused the request.

The zone is home to 123 South Korean companies which employ North Korean workers, and provides the North with badly-needed hard currency.

North Korea blocked South Korean workers from entering the zone in April, and withdrew its 53,000 workers from the industrial park a few days later.

After the North rejected Seoul's calls for talks on resuming operations at the park, South Korea announced that it too would withdraw all its workers from the complex.

It pulled out 125 South Koreans last week and another 43 on Monday, leaving the final seven to "settle accounting and other unresolved matters".

Pyongyang has been angered by tightened UN sanctions imposed after its 12 February nuclear test and by joint US-South Korea military drills, which it has described as "attack rehearsals".

On Thursday, North Korea sentenced a US citizen to 15 years of hard labour for alleged anti-government crimes.

Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was detained last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Analysts suggest Pyongyang could be using the jailed American as leverage.


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