North Korea threatened on Thursday to pull its 53,000 workers from the Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea and close the complex, a day after it blocked access for South Korean personnel.
A spokesman for the North’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said it was responding to the South Korean defence minister’s statement yesterday that there was a “military” contingency plan to ensure the safety of South Koreans in Kaesong.
“If the South Korean puppets and conservative news media keep badmouthing (us), we will order all our workers to pull out from Kaesong”, the spokesman said.