BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The DPRK has rejected a request by a group of South Korean businessmen representing the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North to access their factories. It comes nearly ten days after Pyongyang effectively shut down the complex by pulling out more than 50,000 DPRK workers. More than 200 South Korean workers are still there. But on Wednesday, a few more returned home.

It was the latest chess move in what is quickly becoming an internationally watched stand-off. Four more South Korean workers crossed into ROK customs with their cars filled to the brim. After loading as many factory goods as they could both in the car, and on it, the men headed south. They are free to leave, but not to come back.

"I’m hoping the environment there gets better, since everyone is concerned a lot. I hope there’ll be no more worries," said Oh Heung-gi, a returning S. Korean Kaesong worker.

Oh said the workers at Kaesong are being treated well, not threatened, and able to communicate with their families. He spoke diplomatically. Another colleague who came out preferred to say nothing at all. But Pyongyang’s sudden withdrawal of DPRK workers from the South Korean factories prompted anger from the business association representing them.

Han Jae-kwon, president of Kaesong Industrial Business Association, said, "We businessmen made the Kaesong complex of today with sweat and blood, trusting the promises of the highest leaders from the North and South, who guaranteed our business for fifty years. It is a disaster and pity for us, who are unable to go into our own factories.”

Cars have been loaded up with goods destined for the South Korean workers inside the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Some of the goods have been put into the back of these vehicles. The business association is hoping to get right across the checkpoint. This is a customs area. The complex area is some 20 kilometers away. But that decision right now sits with DPRK officials.

The Kaesong Complex was built more than a decade ago as a model of cooperation between the two sides. The goods – like the factory owners – would be South Korean. But the majority of workers would be from the DPRK, generating millions for the north’s economy. The 123 Kaesong factories had been operating since then at full capacity, until last week.

On Wednesday, Pyongyang rejected the appeal, reaffirming its position that at this moment, anyone in Kaesong could come out, but no one would go in. For now, this is a way one road and as long as the tension remains, it’s likely to stay that way.

(Source: CNTV.cn)