DPRK reopens border for S. Korean workers

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Source: CCTV.com | 03-17-2009 20:39

South Korean officials say the Democratic People's Republic of Korea fully reopened its border crossings for South Korean workers on Tuesday.

The reopening comes four days after Pyongyang shut down the border last week, stranding hundreds of South Koreans who work in the DPRK but live in South Korea.

Lee Jong-Joo, Spokeswoman, South Korean Unification Ministry. (CCTV.com)

The South Korean Unification Ministry says it received a letter from the DPRK on Tuesday morning agreeing to reopen the border to traffic with South Korea.

Lee Jong-Joo, Spokeswoman, South Korean Unification Ministry, said, "On 17th March, at 10:03 a.m, the DPRK's military unit sent a letter - signed by a DPRK sea border military official. It is a notification for the entering and exiting plan for March 17th. A military agreement came in that allows all entering and exiting in the Gyeongui railway area."

The reopening is good news for South Koreans who work in the inter-Korean Industrial Complex in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong.

South Korea says more than 280 South Koreans crossed the border on Tuesday, while some 200 returned home. Factories in the Kaesong Complex also received new deliveries of goods.

The Kaesong industrial zone is the most prominent of landmark inter-Korean projects launched in 2004. By the end of January, Kasesong had more than 100 South Korean enterprises, which employed some 38-thousand DPRK workers.

But some operations in the complex have been affected by recent escalating tension between the two neighbors.

Pyongyang has criticized Seoul for holding 12-day joint military exercises with the US, which began on Monday.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei