The Ministry of Unification says now is not the time to discuss the possibility of closing the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said during a media briefing on Friday that the government will place top priority on guaranteeing the safety of its nationals in the North and will take necessary measures.

However, Jeong said measures to close the industrial park or pull out South Koreans from the inter-Korean complex are not under consideration.

The spokesman said the entry of South Koreans into Gaeseong is at its usual level, with one-thousand-81 South Koreans staying in the North as of 10 a.m. Friday.

Tensions between the two Koreas are rising again as Seoul decided to resume loudspeaker broadcasts near the inter-Korean border after the North conducted a fourth nuclear test on Wednesday, breaking the inter-Korean deal reached on August 25, last year.