Last S. Koreans return from Kaesong complex

South Korea's seven remaining workers at an inter-Korean complex in North Korea returned home Friday, wrapping up a pullout from the zone amid high tensions on the peninsula.

The complete withdrawal cast clouds over the fate of the Kaesong Industrial Complex just north of the heavily fortified border ― the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation ― raising concern over the possibility of permanent closure.

The Ministry of Unification said the South Korean nationals crossed the border at around 6:43 p.m. after reaching an agreement on the payment of outstanding wages to North Korean workers earlier in the day. The two sides also agreed on the amount of taxes that South Korean companies owed Pyongyang.

The return took place after two South Korean vehicles carrying cash reached Kaesong.

The ministry declined to elaborate further on the details of the agreement, including the amount of wage payments, but said that the North has not responded to Seoul's request to be allowed to bring back finished products and components left behind at the factory park.

The return came a week after Seoul decided to withdraw all of its workers from the troubled joint industrial complex after Pyongyang spurned its offer for dialogue a day earlier. Since then, the two sides had been negotiating wages owed to North Korean workers for March.

Analysts said inter-Korean relations will likely remain chilly for the time being following the pullout of all South Korean workers from the factory park.

The two Koreas may seek to start negotiations to break the stalemate, but the industrial complex will inevitably remain suspended for an extended period of time, they added.

Kaesong's operations came to a halt in early April as North Korea withdrew all of its 53,000 workers from 123 South Korean factories in the zone. Pyongyang also barred South Koreans, parts and supplies from entering the complex while allowing only those already there to return to the South.

Before the suspension, the South Korean companies produced garments, wrist-watches and other labor-intensive goods there.

The suspension of the industrial park was one of a string of steps that Pyongyang has taken in anger over U.S.-involved annual military exercises in the South and a new U.N. sanctions resolution adopted after its third nuclear test in February.

The industrial zone, which combined cheap North Korean labor with the South's technology and capital, was the result of the historic summit between late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his counterpart Kim Jong-il in June 2000.

Ground was broken for the complex in June 2003 with the first products coming off of the assembly line in late 2004. Since it began operations, total output at the complex reached $2.05 billion, with the value of last year's production hitting a record $469.5 million.

The complex has also been a key source of hard currency for the impoverished North. South Korea used to pay the North about $90 million in worker wages annually.