By Li Hongmei
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Tuesday the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) would hurt its credibility as a place to do business if it shut down the Kaesong industrial zone and no company from any country would want to invest in the DPRK.
"Investment is all about being able to anticipate results and trust and when you have the North (the DPRK) breaking international regulations and promises like this and suspending Kaesong while the world is watching, no country in the world will invest in the North," Park told a cabinet meeting.
Workers from the DRPK did not report to work early on Tuesday at the Kaesong industrial zone which the DPRK jointly operates with South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported, a day after Pyongyang said it would withdraw workers and suspend operations indefinitely amid what has become one of the most serious crises on the Korean peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
It is the first stoppage since the Kaesong industrial project began shipments in 2004.
Tensions have been rising since the United Nations imposed new sanctions against the DPRK after Pyongyang carried out its third nuclear test in February.
Speculation has increased Pyongyang will carry out either another nuclear test or a missile launch - deeply worrying South Korea and its major ally the United States.
A South Korean government official could not immediately confirm the Yonhap report on Tuesday and said authorities were investigating.
The Kaesong complex employs more than 50,000 workers from the DPRK.
On Monday, the DPRK's official news agency KCNA cited senior official Kim Yang Gon as saying the DPRK would decide later whether it would continue to operate the zone.
About 475 South Korean workers remain in Kaesong a week after Pyongyang banned all South Koreans from entering the complex. The South's Unification Ministry said 77 South Korean workers were expected to return home on Tuesday.
Thirteen factories have stopped operations in Kaesong due to lack of raw materials, according to the Unification Ministry. A total of 123 South Korean companies generate more than US$80 million a year in cash in wages at the complex.
