S. Korean workers fail to enter DPRK's industrial complex
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E-mail Xinhua, April 3, 2013
South Korean workers commuting to the Kaesong Industrial Complex failed to enter the inter-Korean industrial zone as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has yet to give approval to the cross-border movement, the unification ministry said Wednesday.
"As of 9:27 a.m., there has been no departure of (South Korean) workers to the Kaesong industrial park as the North (DPRK) granted no approval to it," a spokesman office at the Ministry of Unification in charge of dialogue and cooperation with the DPRK said by phone.
After cutting off the military communications hotline on March 27, Pyongyang had given the approval notice to Seoul through the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee's wire telephone around 8 a.m. every day.
The delayed departure came four days after the DPRK threatened to shut down the joint industrial park in the DPRK border town of Kaesong, which is housing around 120 South Korean companies and is employing some 54,000 DPRK workers.
According to the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) officials cited by Yonhap News Agency, 179 South Korean workers and 153 vehicles were waiting for the approval from the DPRK at the CIQ in Paju, around 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul.
Despite the delayed passage, South Korean factories at the industrial park are operating normally, Yonhap quoted officials as saying.
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