Tensions between North Korea and its enemies are worryingly high at the moment, with Kim Jong-un's government telling the world that they are "at war" with South Korea last night.
However, as Adam Pasnick of Quartz notes, there is one bright spot. The Kaesong industrial park, which sits in the North just above of the DMZ, is still open. The facility is run by South Korea, and vital for the North's economic interests.
Today North Korean state news agency KNCA has published an article titled "DPRK Warns Future of Kaesong Industrial Zone Depends on S. Korea's Attitude," in which they threaten to close the park.
Interestingly, the tone of the article suggests official anger at foreign media sources for speculating about why the Kaesong is still open:
But the puppet group of south Korea, its dutiful media and hack writers are saying that "the north does not take up the issue of the zone because it is a source for its foreign currency income" and talking about "two faces of the north". They are even insulting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK.
It is an extremely unusual thing that the Kaesong Industrial Zone is still in existence under the grave situation in which the north-south relations have plunged into a deadlock and the Korean Peninsula is on the verge of a war due to the U.S. and the south Korean warmongers' vicious moves for igniting a nuclear war against the DPRK.
The KNCA report goes on to say that the North could close the camp to South Koreans, but they are aware that the "closure of the zone on which the livelihood of small and medium businesses of south Korea hinge can leave those businesses bankrupt and lots of people jobless."
The park is estimated to net the North around $80 million a year. As Pasnick notes, international phone lines in the park have remained open even after the official North-South hotline has been closed.
While North Korea's recent actions have left many worried, few analysts are taking the threats of war against South Korea or strikes on U.S. soil seriously.
"We have no indications at this point that it's anything more than warmongering rhetoric," one unnamed senior Washington defense official told CNN.
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