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Summary
North Korea on Tuesday said it will scrap agreements that guaranteed a safe cross-border exchange in another escalation of a blistering war of words. The move was a step at severing the link across their armed border into the industrial enclave in the North Korean city of Kaesong. The announcement was made by the North's army chief of staff through state-run television KRT. We will completely repeal the military guarantee measures that our army is to enforce related to North-South cooperation exchange, KRT said. The North also has threatened to close the last road link with the South if Seoul resumes loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across their heavily armed border. It has also warned of war if the South goes ahead with sanctions announced this week. The threat to cut off border links could mean the beginning of the end for the Kaesong industrial project, where more than 100 South Korean firms use cheap local labour and rent to make consumer goods. Kaesong has been one of a few legitimate sources of income for the North. It is worth tens of millions of dollars a year. North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly is scheduled to meet on June 7, two months after the rubberstamp parliament passed constitutional amendments that strengthened leader Kim Jong-il's powers. Experts say a major announcement is likely.
