North Korea made an announcement today, and Ryoo Kihl-jae, South Korea's Unification Minister, was handed a note with the content of that announcement as he was giving testimony before South Korea's National Assembly Committee.

The announcement, made by North Korea’s Secretary of the Workers Party Central Committee, Kim Yang Gon, stated that Pyongyang was pulling its 53,000 workers from the industrial complex in Kaesong.

It was further announced that operations at the site would be suspended and the fate of the complex is to be examined.

North Korea stopped issuing permits for the South Korean managers to cross over into North Korea to work in the factories at Kaesong last week.

South Korea said that the closure of the complex will only serve to increase the already high tension ion the Korean Peninsula. The Kaesong complex is also a significant supply of hard currency for the North as the worker’s wages go directly to the government and no the employees themselves.

Ryoo, who was recorded on tape earlier saying that there was a sign that North Korea was preparing for a fourth nuclear test, in a puzzling turn of events, denied making the statement while giving testimony today. He had also, just moments before being handed the note, stated that movements at the border appeared usual and routine.

North Korea told diplomats at embassies stationed in Pyongyang that North Korea could not ensure the safety of the officials beyond April 10th. South Korea surmises that the north will attempt another missile test on or around that date.

General James Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces in South Korea, has cancelled his scheduled trip to Washington to testify before congressional committees this week. The reason given for his cancellation was that the general needed to stay on the peninsula in light of recent developments. General Thurman would be in command of U.S. and South Korean forces if hostilities were to erupt.

For the first time, Japan has announced though its defense minister, prior to any announcement by North Korea of a planned test, that his country will shoot down any incoming missile.