Tensions escalate along Korean border

[unhappycamper]

Tensions escalate along Korean border
By Kwang-Tae Kim - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 15, 2009 8:58:49 EDT

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s ruling party and several of the nation’s companies urged North Korea on Sunday to end its ban on border crossings by workers at a joint industrial park, while Seoul called the ban regrettable.

North Korea first closed the border March 9 after cutting off the only remaining hot line with the South to protest its ongoing military drills with the United States. The North says the exercises are a rehearsal for an invasion. The two Koreas use the hot line to coordinate the passage of people and goods through their heavily fortified border.

The North reopened the border Tuesday but closed it again Friday, stranding hundreds of people working in the Kaesong industrial complex.

The North’s move is “very regrettable,” Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said at a meeting with South Korean business owners who run factories in the sprawling complex.

South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party urged the North to end the ban.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_koreas_tension_031509/%2e