A border crossing was open on Thursday and South Koreans were allowed to enter North Korea to travel to a joint industrial park despite Pyongyang cutting a military hotline at the border a day earlier.
The hotline coordinates traffic to and from the Kaesong industrial complex, which is one of impoverished, isolated North Korea’s only sources of foreign currency. It lies just north of the border.
An initial group of 197 South Korean workers were allowed to cross the border today morning after their entry was approved by North Korea via a telephone call from the industrial park’s management office, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine agency.
About 120 South Korean firms operate at the Kaesong complex and employ North Korean workers.
On Wednesday, North Korea said that it was cutting the military hotline, citing “hostile” behaviour from the United States and South Korea, which carried out military exercises this month.
The communist regime cut off another hotline at the border operated by the Red Cross two weeks ago as relations have deteriorated in the wake of North Korea’s third nuclear test in February and strengthened international sanctions against it.
It has issued repeated threats since then, including pre-emptive nuclear attacks.