According to Yonhap:
North Korea has begun to more harshly censor South Korean newspapers subscribed to by firms operating in the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial complex, apparently to prevent workers there from reading reports on their leader Kim Jong-il’s health, officials said Monday.
“The North began to allow South Korean dailies to pass through customs only after cutting out articles critical of the country as of Oct. 20,” a Unification Ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
About 30 copies of nine different papers cross the inter-Korean border every day for delivery to the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee in the complex, a civilian administrative body of South Korean firms there, according to the official.
The North is strictly enforcing customs regulations barring the entry of overseas publications critical of Pyongyang, the official said.
It is not known exactly what types of articles have been censored by the North, but officials say the measure could be related to recent reports that Kim is ailing.
South Koreans are forbidden to carry the newspapers when they leave the office, but some have received warnings from North Korean authorities for violating the rule, according to the Unification Ministry official.
Read the full article here:
N. Korea intensifies control of S. Korean dailies sent to Kaesong
Yonhap
Shim Sun-ah
10/27/2008
