S. Koreans leaving Kaesong facility

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- South Koreans working at an industrial facility jointly run by North Korea are returning home as relations between the neighbors worsen, officials say.

North Korea has moved to slash the number of South Korean employees allowed to work to the facility in Kaesong and say they will enforce a complete border crossing freeze starting Monday. Nearly 900 South Koreans, including nine government officials, returned to Seoul Friday after losing their jobs at the industrial park, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told the Voice of America that hundreds more South Koreans will also return, with only about 1,500 of the 4,000 Kaesong workers currently holding North Korean visas being allowed to stay after Monday.

Analysts told the broadcaster that Pyongyang is instituting the clampdown on joint tourism and industrial projects as a way to punish South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whom it frequently describes as a "traitor" for his hard-line policies toward the North.