N. Korea to lift border traffic restrictions

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Thursday it will lift cross-border
traffic restrictions imposed since December in protest of Seoul's hardline
policy, officials said, the latest conciliatory gesture toward the South.
In the so-called "December 1 Measure," North Korea restricted the number of times
South Korean workers could travel to a joint industrial park in its border town
of Kaesong.
North Korea sent a message to the South saying it will lift the restrictions
starting Saturday, officials said.
"We need time to clear the situation," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokeswoman
Lee Jong-joo said.
After the restrictions were imposed, North Korea opened the border three times in
the morning for South Koreans crossing into the North and three times in the
afternoon for South Koreans returning home.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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