Seoul , South Korea ( CNN ) -- South Korea started withdrawing its last remaining citizens Saturday from the manufacturing zone jointly operated with North Korea following weeks of tensions between the two . Pyongyang this week shunned an offer by Seoul to hold talks over the Kaesong Industrial Complex after it halted activity there this month . The complex in North Korea was one of the few symbols of inter-Korean cooperation . South Korea 's Unification Ministry announced that 126 workers and 63 trucks departed Kaesong , which lies just north of the Demilitarized Zone , the heavily fortified border that separates North and South Korea . In the past two months , tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been rich in saber-rattling and short on concrete actions . But the Kaesong complex , which houses the operations of more than 120 South Korean companies , appears to have become a significant victim . Growing suffering . Ryoo said the decision to withdraw the South Koreans was a result of their `` growing suffering caused by the unjust actions of the North , '' which has been preventing workers , as well as food and medical supplies , from crossing the border into the zone for the past several weeks . In an apparent last ditch attempt to resolve the crisis Thursday , South Korea proposed formal talks with the North , warning of serious consequences if the offer was rejected . 'Deceptive ' offer rejected . But the North spurned the proposal . In a statement on state media Friday , a spokesman for the North Korean National Defense Commission described Seoul 's offer of talks about the complex as `` deceptive . '' It said that if Seoul `` keeps aggravating the situation , '' it would `` be forced to take the final decisive and crucial measure first . '' The South Koreans in the complex are believed to have been looking after the idle factories there . Ryoo said Friday that the South Korean government would support the companies invested in the complex so they can continue with their business activities . Suspending activity . Earlier this month , during a frenzy of fiery rhetoric directed at South Korea and the United States , the North began blocking South Koreans from entering the complex across the heavily fortified border . It then pulled out the more than 50,000 North Koreans who work in the zone 's factories , saying it was temporarily suspending activity there . The move surprised some observers since Kaesong was considered to be a key source of hard currency for the regime of Kim Jong Un . The situation on the Korean Peninsula deteriorated after the North carried out its latest underground nuclear test in February , prompting the U.N. Security Council to tighten sanctions on the regime in Pyongyang . The tougher sanctions , together with joint U.S.-South Korean military training exercises in South Korea , intensified North Korea 's threats against Washington and Seoul . The North 's ominous language , which unnerved the United States enough for it to move missile-defense systems into the region , had appeared to calm somewhat recently . And the U.S.-South Korean military exercises are due to end in the coming days . CNN 's K.J . Kwon reported from Seoul , and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong .
South Korea is pulling out its citizens from Kaesong . The North Korean government has been trying to get the United States and other countries involved in talks with Pyongyang over how it will handle a possible end of the inter-Korean industrial complex. The North describes the South 's offer of talks as `` deceptive '' North Korea suspended activity at the joint industrial zone this month .