N. Korea opens border for stranded workers

SEOUL, March 16 (UPI) -- North Korean officials said Monday they would allow stranded South Korean workers to return home from a joint industrial complex inside the Communist country.

But while announcing the border with South Korea would be partially reopened, North Korea said it wouldn't allow South Korean workers to travel to the industrial park in the border town of Kaesong, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

"North Korea sent us a message at 9:20 a.m. saying that South Koreans who have been waiting for a cross-border trip since Friday will be allowed to return home starting this afternoon," South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.

A total of 453 South Korean workers were to return to Seoul by late afternoon, with another 272 South Koreans remaining in the Kaesong complex, ministry officials said. News reports didn't indicate why the 272 people were left at the complex

North Korea also hasn't approved delivery of materials loaded on South Korean cargo trucks to the Kaesong factories, which could halt production at the plants inside the complex, Yonhap said.

The Kaesong industrial complex has more than 90 South Korean firms, employing about 36,000 North Koreans. The businesses produce clothes, watches, kitchenware, electronic equipment, among other things.

North Korea closed the border March 9 to protest joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises, but crossings resumed the next day. The North re-closed the border Friday, offering no explanation, Yonhap said.