Rival camps showed mixed reactions to the government’s decision on Wednesday to halt operations at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea.
 
The ruling Saenuri Party said the government’s decision was an inevitable measure that took place to cut the vicious circle of the North’s provocations. The party said that only the North is to blame for the latest decision.
 
The party’s chief spokesman, Kim Young-woo, said actions must be shown to make the North see that it is driving itself toward isolation if it fails to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
 
Kim stressed that the government must exert all-out efforts to minimize losses that South Korean firms in the complex will suffer in the process of pulling out of the industrial park.
 
Meanwhile, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea urged the government to reconsider its latest decision. The party said the latest step could heighten the people’s security concerns and lead to the permanent closure of the complex.
 
The party’s spokesman, Kim Sung-soo, said halting the complex’s operations marks a full block of inter-Korean relations and regression to the days of the Cold War. 
 
The minor opposition People’s Party said that the move is merely a self-hurting resentment that lacks effectiveness and only causes losses to South Korean companies. The party said that the government’s decision marked a termination of inter-Korean ties that cannot be undone.