Kaesong, North Korea (Wikimedia Commons)

North Korea shut its border to South Korea at Kaesong, a joint industrial zone, on Wednesday for the first time since 2009.

According to the BBC, more than 850 South Koreans were at Kaesong when the ban was announced and about 800 have been allowed to return. Permission has been granted on a daily basis for those workers who cross into the complex and stay overnight.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se also visited with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Wednesday, saying North Korean would defend the U.S. from the North's threats. CBS News reported that Kerry called North Korea's threats "unacceptable" but that it could still come "back to the table" of the global community if it promised an end to nuclear involvement.

On Tuesday, North Korea announced that operations on the country's nuclear reactor would resume.

Find more Neon Tommy coverage on North Korea here.

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