N. Korea pulls workers out of Kaesong industrial zone

[Bosonic]

Source: AFP

SEOUL — North Korea announced Monday it would pull all its 53,000 workers out of the Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea and suspend all commercial operations in the complex, blaming "military warmongers".

North Korea "will withdraw all its employees from the zone", Kim Yang-Gon, a senior ruling party official, said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

At the same time, Pyongyang "will temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it", Kim added.

Kim, who toured Kaesong Monday morning, said the action had been forced by "military warmongers" seeking to make Kaesong a point of confrontation amid escalating military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gL_khAtat24nhIdwFbT8jbsyOAPg?docId=CNG.05615cd06638f9e5e099e222b6ca974f.81

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BREAKING: NKorea recalls its workers at factory jointly run with South; may close it as tensions mount.

https://twitter.com/AP/status/321177981991153664

[davidpdx]

1. South Korea made a mistake but not using Kaesong as leverage and to protect the South Korean workers

by pulling their everyone out when North Korea started all this crap. Leave Kaesong empty. South Korea doesn't need it. It's North Korea that will starve themselves.

[TwilightGardener]

2. They seem to enjoy shooting themselves in the foot.

[dmosh42]

3. Time for the UN to prepare, not the US!

[Marrah_G]

5. We have an agreement in place with South Korea and Japan

[dmosh42]

7. I know we'll be there, but the UN should have troops ready and authorized to go. Better that the NK.

knows what is waiting.

[Marrah_G]

4. Okay... that isn't good

[ButterflyBlood]

6. Smoot-Hawley 2.0

Alas the people in the North who will suffer over this aren't the ones calling the shots. It's become a bit of a meme to note how much of a fatass Kim Jong-in is, he puts Chris Christie to shame, even though he's leading a country with more starvation than Somalia. It's basically comic book like villainy.