Korea to halt work at joint industrial park with N. Korea

McConnell said the Senate will consider legislation to hit North Korea with more stringent sanctions in the wake of Pyongyang’s recent satellite launch and technical advances USA intelligence agencies say the reclusive Asian nation is making in its nuclear weapons program.

The head of North Korea’s army staff, General Ri Yong Gil, was reportedly executed last week.

During more than a decade of operations at the Kaesong estate, Seoul has never before shut it down – despite numerous provocations, ranging from nuclear tests to the shelling of a South Korean border island.

Japan announced Wednesday that it will impose new sanctions on North Korea to protest the rocket launch.

Tokyo – which feels particularly threatened by North Korea’s bellicose moves – unveiled its own fresh sanctions Wednesday. Hundreds of South Korean workers are stranded at the complex but factories continue operations.

The South Korean government and companies have invested about 1 trillion won in the Kaesong complex including 616 billion won in cash since it opened in 2005, Hong said.

“I suspect the aim of the launch was to repeat the success, which itself provides considerable engineering knowledge”, said Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor”, Clapper said in prepared testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. South Korea’s government and industries pay to operate the park.

The claims are backed by Ri’s recent disappearance – he was nowhere to be seen during Pyongyang’s celebrations of Sunday’s long-range rocket launch in the North.

An official with South Korea’s Defense Ministry said that the booster “separated from (the rocket’s) main body and exploded into about 270 pieces”.

South Korea, the US, Japan and others see Sunday’s rocket launch – ostensibly to put a satellite into space – as cover for a banned test of missile technology.

“This is a clear violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions”, the statement said.

Hong said the government fully understands that the South Korean businesses in the industrial complex will face hardship with the government’s latest decision.

In 2013, North Korea shut down the complex for five months during a period of diplomatic tension.