North Korea restricts border crossings

KAESONG, North Korea, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- North Korea has moved to severely curtail the number of South Koreans it allows into the country for joint industrial and tourism projects, officials said.

As it had promised to do, Pyongyang Monday instituted sharp new restrictions, allowing vehicles to enter from the South only six times per day compared with 19 previously and blocking the access of thousands of South Korean workers to a cooperative industrial park in Kaesong, the Voice of America reported.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told reporters of South Korea's "deep regret" at the moves, which Seoul contends violate North-South agreements, impedes production and decreases market confidence.

The industrial park and the Kumgang tourism zone are the results of a 10-year South Korean policy that sought to engage North Korea by showing it was willing to send billions of dollars in aid and investment.

But Pyongyang says it is cutting back on its cooperation to protest the policies of conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who maintains aid to the North must be more closely tied to its willingness to cooperate on nuclear disarmament, VOA reported.