S. Korean company pulls out of DPRK

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As the tensions on the Korean peninsula rise over the DPRK's recent nuclear and missile tests, a South Korean company has decided to pull out from a troubled industrial complex in the DPRK border town of Kaesong.

Skin Net will be the first South Korean company at the complex to go.

The company is a Seoul-based fur manufacturer. The president cites security issues for the decision to pull out.

Kim Yong-Gu, President of Skin Net Company, said, "Since last October when the South-North relationship worsened, increasing number of buyers requested us not to make their products in Kaesong, but rather in China or South Korea."

The company says the pullout will be completed this month.

There was no immediate response from the DPRK.

Last month Pyongyang said it would re-write the rules for running the joint complex. It gave Seoul an ultimatum to accept them or leave.

Skin Net's announcement comes two days before officials from the two sides plan to discuss the Kaesong issue.

Lee Jong-Joo, Spokeswoman of S. Korean Unification Ministry, said, "Since we cannot separate our people's security issue from the issues of preservation and development of Kaesong Industrial Complex, we believe they must be discussed in proper format."

106 companies operate in the 5 year-old complex, a key symbol of rapprochement. The industrial zone combines South Korean technology and management expertise, with some 40 thousand workers from the North.