SEOUL — North Korea has announced zero tolerance for cell phones and cars equipped with GPS (global positioning system) devices used by South Korean businessmen at a joint industrial complex just north of the border, officials here said.
A S. Korean convoy crosses the border near Kaesong, North Korea, on Oct. 2, 2007.
AFP/Getty
Previously, the North had tacitly allowed South Korean businessmen to cross the border if they turned off their GPS devices and entrusted their cell phones to customs officers.
But with the new measure, the North will expel any South Korean found with a mobile phone or GPS and confiscate the equipment, Unification Ministry officials said.
GPS technology can identify and provide directions to locations, even in remote areas of the world.
Since Dec. 1, the North has toughened restrictions for South Koreans on border traffic and access to the Kaesong industrial complex in a protest against campaigns by North Korean defectors and other activists to send balloons carrying leaflets critical of ruler Kim Jong-Il across the border into North Korea.
Previously, 500 South Koreans and 200 vehicles were allowed to cross the border 19 times a day. But now, only 250 people and 150 cars can enter at three times a day.
About 90 South Korean companies operating in the Kaesong complex have hired more than 36,000 North Korean workers.
