NK Reopens Border for Southern Visitors

North Korea has agreed to reopen its border for South Koreans visiting a joint industrial complex, one day after effectively closing the frontier, Agence France Presse reported Tuesday, quoting a business chief.

Yoo Chang-Geun, vice chairman of the Corporation of Kaesong Industrial Council, told AFP the North has agreed to resume immigration procedures from 10:00 a.m. On Monday, the North announced it was switching off military phone and fax lines, which are used to approve border crossings, in protest against the start of a major U.S.-South Korean military exercise.

The decision stranded 80 South Koreans who intended to return Monday from Kaesong (Gaeseong), a Seoul-funded joint industrial estate built just north of the border, as a symbol of cooperation.

Yoo said Kaesong business chiefs Monday night sent a letter seeking the North's guarantee for business activities at the estate.

"We asked the North not to hold the Kaesong complex hostage. We requested that business activities in Kaesong should not be swayed by any political situations," he was quoted as saying. "In the morning today, we received a message from the North that the immigration work will resume from 10:00 a.m."

An unidentified government official quoted by Yonhap News Agency said the North sent two written messages to Seoul military officials controlling the eastern and western border crossings.

"The North said in the messages that from today, it would allow cross-border passages by land at the eastern and western parts of the border."

The decision is set to ease cross-border tensions somewhat, a day after the North put its military on combat alert in response to the military exercise.

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