South Korea may pull its workers out of a joint industrial complex in North Korea if their situation becomes untenable as cross-border tensions soar, a minister said on Friday.
“I think we would have to withdraw South Korean staff from Kaesong for their own security if the situation required us to do so,” Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told journalists.
However, the current threat to their security was not “so high” as to consider an imminent evacuation, Ryoo said, adding that any action would be taken in consultation with the 123 South Korean companies operating in the complex.
Ryoo gave no indication as to how the evacuation might be carried out.
When North Korea chooses to walk the right path towards change, we will adopt a flexible approach and provide assistance together with the international community
A remark earlier this week by the South Korea Defence Minister that there was a “military” contingency plan in place incensed Pyongyang, which threatened to pull out its 53,000 workers and shut the whole complex down.
Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres inside the North and has become a chip in a high-stakes game of military brinkmanship on the Korean peninsula, was closed on Friday for a scheduled holiday.