hankyoreh

President Lee Myung-bak Thursday convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers and aides to discuss North Korea's expulsion of South Korean officials from an inter-Korean industrial park in the North, an aide to Lee said.

Earlier in the day, North Korea expelled all South Korean government officials from their joint office in Kaesong in apparent protest at the Lee government's hard-line stance on its nuclear weapons program.

"Lee presided over an emergency meeting of security-related government officials early Thursday morning," said the aide.

"Senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security, Kim Byung-kook, Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong and other top-ranking security-related officials also met separately later Thursday morning at Cheong Wa Dae to discuss Kaesong-related issues." Meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae said that presidential spokesperson Lee Dong-kwan was to disclose the presidential office's official position on the issue on Thursday afternoon.

SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap)