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South Korea begins Kaesong industrial park shut down North Korea to cut hotlines with South amid Kaesong shutdown
(about 3 hours later)
South Korea has begun shutting down its operations in the Kaesong industrial park jointly run by the rival Koreas. North Korea has vowed to cut two crucial communication hotlines with the South, and says the Kaesong industrial park is now a military zone.
On Wednesday, Seoul announced it would suspend its activity there because of the North's recent rocket launch. It comes after Seoul suspended its operations at the jointly-run Kaesong complex in the North, in protest over Pyongyang's recent rocket launch.
It had already restricted some South Korean activity there following Pyongyang's nuclear test last month. Kaesong is one of the last points of co-operation between the two Koreas and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
It is unclear how long the shutdown will last, which Seoul said was aimed at cutting off money the North used for nuclear and missile development. The North has called the shutdown "a declaration of war".
About 124 mostly South Korean companies operate in Kaesong employing thousands of North Koreans. Seoul says the suspension is aimed at cutting off money the North uses for nuclear and missile development.
The BBC's Steve Evans in Seoul says those companies have started taking out easily-moveable equipment and stocks of finished goods and raw materials. Tensions between the two Koreas has been high following Pyongyang's nuclear test last month and its launching of a satellite on Sunday.
Many North Korean workers failed to turn up for work today. Their South Korean managers cleared their desks and started to leave, our correspondent adds. North Korea previously cut communication hotlines with the South in 2013, but reopened them after relations improved.
Some of the managers from the South told the BBC they were shocked by the suddenness with which their businesses in the North had had to cease production. The hotlines, which are intended to defuse dangerous military situations, include a hotline used by the military, and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone. A third hotline is used by the Red Cross.
Read more: 'Tit-for-tat'
"I'm speechless at what has happened," Jang Ik-Ho, a manager with an engineering company in the complex told AFP news agency. On Thursday, Pyongyang vowed to immediately expel South Korean workers from Kaesong, and seize the assets of companies working there.
"The companies have all done our best to make things work, and now this happens. What did we do to deserve this?" Jang said while crossing over into the North. However, South Korean companies had already started withdrawing managers, equipment and stock, after Seoul announced the suspension.
Opened in 2004, the Kaesong complex is the only point of co-operation between the two Koreas. The two sides are now in a tit-for-tat escalation of measures against each other, the BBC's Korea correspondent Steve Evans reports.
In April 2013, the North shut down the complex for more than four months, after heightened tensions sparked by military drills by Seoul and Washington. Some of the managers from the South told the BBC they were shocked and frustrated by the suddenness with which their businesses in the North had had to cease production.
What is Kaesong?
What is the Kaesong Industrial Complex
Why did North launch long-range rocket?
How advanced is North's nuclear programme?
The current shutdown came as the US Senate voted unanimously in favour of tougher sanctions against North Korea.The current shutdown came as the US Senate voted unanimously in favour of tougher sanctions against North Korea.
The draft legislation targets any person or entity trading or financing anything related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms proliferation, North Korea's rocket programme, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, activities that threaten US cyber security, and the import of luxury goods.The draft legislation targets any person or entity trading or financing anything related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms proliferation, North Korea's rocket programme, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, activities that threaten US cyber security, and the import of luxury goods.
All were already sanctioned, but the measures aim to tighten the restrictions.All were already sanctioned, but the measures aim to tighten the restrictions.
The bill also authorises $50m (£34m) for radio broadcasts into North Korea and humanitarian aid programs. The bill also authorises $50m (£34m) for radio broadcasts into North Korea and humanitarian aid programmes.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. The two will now have to be reconciled into a final measure needing President Barack Obama's sign-off.The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. The two will now have to be reconciled into a final measure needing President Barack Obama's sign-off.
Republican Senator Cory Gardner, one of the authors of the latest sanctions bill, criticised President Obama's policy of "strategic patience''.
"The situation in the Korea peninsula is at its most unstable point since the armistice,'' he said, referring to the deal to end hostilities in the Korean War in 1953.
Republican senators and presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio interrupted campaigning to go back to Washington DC for the vote. But Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders did not return, although he did express his support for the bill in a statement.