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North Korea expelled all South Korean government officials from their joint office in the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial complex Thursday, the Unification Ministry said, in an apparent sign of strained ties after the launch of the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration.

President Lee has vowed to take a tough position on the North and link further inter-Korean cooperation projects to progress in international negotiations over North Korea's nuclear programs.

The position is a stark departure from that of his two liberal predecessors who refrained from criticizing the nuclear-armed state due to concern over the possibility of hindering reconciliation.

The expulsion follows Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong's remarks last week that it would be difficult to expand the complex without progress in North Korea's denuclearization.

"The South Korean government pulled out all of its 11 officials residing in the inter-Korean joint office in the Kaesong complex at about 1 a.m. Thursday after the North demanded their withdrawal," Kim Ho-nyeon, spokesman for the Unification Ministry, said in a press briefing.

North Korea cited the minister's remarks as a reason for the demand, he said, adding that five South Korean civilians are now working at the Kaesong office.

There was no physical clash in the procedure, according to other ministry officials.

"We express deep concern over the North's unilateral demand.

All responsibility resulting from the measure lies with the North Korean side," Kim said.

He called for Pyongyang's early normalization of the joint office, warning that the incident may cause a delay in the development of the Kaesong industrial park.

The Kaesong complex, located just north of the heavily armed inter-Korean border, is a by-product of the 2000 summit in which the leaders of the two Koreas reached an agreement on peace and reconciliation. Sixty-nine South Korean labor-intensive manufacturers are operating factories at the facility, employing 23,953 North Korean workers.

The two Koreas agreed to expand the complex at their second summit last year.

The Kaesong office opened in October 2005 to become the first permanent inter-Korean consultative office in North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. About 10 North Korean officials work in the office.

Multilateral talks on the North's denuclearization, involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas, have recently been stalled over a dispute on a declaration of the North's nuclear programs and proliferation activities that Pyongyang agreed to submit before the end of 2007.

The North claims it submitted the list, while the U.S. said it has yet to receive a "complete and correct" declaration that includes the North's suspected uranium enrichment program as well as past and present nuclear cooperation with other countries.

SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap)