North Korea shuts tourist city

North Korea said yesterday it will halt tours of its historic city of Kaesong and stop cross-border train services with South Korea starting next week because of Seoul's hard-line stance towards the communist nation.

North Korea's army also said it will "selectively expel" South Koreans from a joint industrial zone in Kaesong, but stopped short of closing the South Korean-run factories that are a key source of hard currency for the impoverished nation.

Yesterday's announcement laid out the first concrete measures the North plans to take in implementing its threat to restrict cross-border traffic with the South starting December 1, and marked a new escalation of tension between the two countries still technically at war.