S Korea factory owners wary over tensions
Despite the military manoeuvres, South Korea has not yet pulled out workers from a joint industrial park.
When Kaesong factory owners met on the South-North Korean border, they made clear just how concerned they were about the ongoing North Korean blockade.
The vice chairman of their association on Thursday seemed to suggest that North Korea had given them until next Wednesday to get their people out.
That interpretation was soon changed, instead becoming the deadline for informing North Korea about South Koreans who wanted to leave; others could stay.
South Korea’s unification minister, talking to foreign reporters in Seoul, agreed that the threat to Kaesong was different from before – this time, part of a series of escalating North Korean provocations.
He said the more than 600 South Koreans currently inside were safe, but would be pulled out if necessary.
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett reports from Seoul.