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S. Korea will 'never tolerate' harm to its nationals in Kaesong: Hyun
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea warned Monday it will "never tolerate" any threat against its nationals working at a joint factory park in North Korea, as tension mounted on the divided peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
About 1,000 South Koreans work in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, which employs 42,000 low-wage but skilled North Korean workers to produce labor-intensive goods.
The fate of the last remaining major symbol of reconciliation has increasingly hung in the balance since March 26 when a South Korean corvette sank near the Yellow Sea border, killing 46 seamen.
South Korea last week concluded after an extensive multinational probe that a North Korean submarine torpedoed the 1,200-ton Cheonan, a provocation Pyongyang denies it had any role in.
South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said Monday that Seoul will still maintain the joint economic project in Kaesong despite the attack, but will "respond with resolute measures" to any bid by the communist neighbor to undermine the safety of its workers.
"If North Korea ignores our careful consideration to preserve the complex even under current circumstances, and subsequently threatens the safety of our citizens there, we will never tolerate any harm to our citizens," Hyun said.
Hyun was speaking at a joint press briefing with the foreign and defense ministers following President Lee Myung-bak's nationally televised speech condemning the North for the ship sinking.
Hyun was apparently referring to the half-year long detention of a South Korean worker in Kaesong last year amid deteriorating political ties between the countries.
Yu Seong-jin, an engineer, was arrested on charges of denouncing the North Korean regime but was released in August after a South Korean business executive met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Last week, North Korea expelled a South Korean worker from the industrial complex over a training booklet that had apparently slipped into his possession by accident.
More than 110 South Korean companies operate in the complex, which began operating in 2004, as a result of the first-ever summit between the divided countries four years earlier.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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