Seoul Threatens Pyongyang With Consequences For Use Of Kaesong Industrial Zone - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2023) Seoul will take necessary measures if Pyongyang does not stop using plants in a now-closed joint industrial zone located in North Korea's southern city of Kaesong allegedly without authorization, the Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday, citing a South Korean Unification Ministry official.

"The North's operation of factories in the complex without authorization constitutes a clear violation of South Korean businessmen's right to property and a related inter-Korean agreement. The North should immediately stop its act. If the North does not reply to our call, the government will take necessary steps on the grounds that the North concedes its unauthorized use of the complex," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, as quoted by the news agency.

The Kaesong Industrial Region is a special administrative region in North Korea, which operated in 2004-2016 as part of a joint economic development with South Korea.

The park is located six miles north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, and has direct road and rail access to South Korea.

South Korean companies were able to employ cheap and skilled workforce due to the industrial zone's operation, while North Korea received foreign Currency, paid directly as the employees' salaries to the country's government.

In 2013, North Korea blocked access to the region to all South Korean citizens and removed all 53,000 North Korean workers from the Kaesong industrial park. In February 2016, the South Korean Unification Ministry announced that the park had temporarily suspended its operation due to Pyongyang's nuclear and long-range missile tests, among other things.