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Kaesong zone may turn into military base: S. Korea

February 12, 2016

North Korean employees work at a factory at the industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong. The joint factory park reopened earlier in the day, more than five months after it was shut down amid rising tensions across the border of the two Koreas.

North Korean employees work at a factory at the industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong. (Korea Times file)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korea does not rule out the possibility of North Korea turning the joint inter-Korean factory park in a North Korean border town into a military base, the Defense Ministry said Friday.

In retaliation of the North’s long-range missile launch earlier this week, South Korea decided to shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex located in the North Korean town with the same name.

The North expelled all South Korean workers from the joint factory park Thursday. The country also pledged to turn the area into a military zone.

“The military is keeping itself ready for every possibility,” defense ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun said after being asked whether the North is likely to deploy military troops in the emptied Kaesong Industrial Complex.

“If North Korea redeploys its troops, it may not be easy for the country to decide what to do with the Kaesong Industrial Complex, but we leave the possibility open,” Moon said.

The joint factory park area is a militarily important location for North Korea, which directly leads to South Korea’s capital Seoul and adjacent areas. Prior to the opening of the inter-Korean park in 2004, the North stationed military forces there.

North Korea cut off its telephone and fax lines with South Korea at the western liaison office following its announcement to do so a day earlier, the spokesman said.

The move left the last remaining direct telephone and fax lines between the two Koreas closed, he said.