The South Korean government is shutting down participation in the joint industrial park it runs with the North at Kaesong village.  This turns the tables on Pyongyang, which in the past has been first to use the venture as a political tool.

South Korean workers spent much of Thursday shutting the factories.  Closing the Kaesong Industrial Park is one of the strongest measures Seoul can employ against the North, in retaliation for the recent ballistic missile launch and nuclear weapon test.  The project was meant to bring the two closer together by allowing South Korean firms to open up shot and employ cheap North Korean labor.  It's one of Pyongyang's only legal revenue streams, providing US$560 million of cash to impoverished North Korea since 2004.

"It appears that such funds have not been used to pave the way to peace as the international community had hoped, but rather to upgrade its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles," said South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo at a news conference.

The South Korean government and companies invested more than $850 million in Kaesong's infrastructure.  But South Korea's economy can absorb the impact of closing Kaesong, unlike the North.

"The shutdown will impact the country's economy," said North Korean defector Kim Kwang-jin, who is now a researcher at South Korea's Institute for National Security Strategy.  "The Kaesong complex earnings roughly equal the amount five foreign-currency-earning entities would bring in every year," he added.