NKorea rejects Seoul deadline for response to talks on shuttered factory park, returns threat

FILE - In this June 22, 2006 file photo, North Koreans work at a factory of South Korean apparel maker Shinwon company in the inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong, North Korea. South Korea on Thursday, April 25, 2013 warned of an unspecified "grave measure" if North Korea rejects talks on the jointly run factory park shuttered for nearly a month - setting up the possible end of the last remaining major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) (The Associated Press)

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U.S. Army soldiers ride an armored vehicle during their military exercise near the border village of Panmunjom, that separates the two Koreas, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. For weeks, North Korea has threatened to attack the U.S. and South Korea for holding joint military drills and for supporting U.N. sanctions. Washington and Seoul said they've seen no evidence that Pyongyang is actually preparing for a major conflict, though South Korean defense officials said the North appears prepared to test-fire a medium-range missile capable of reaching the American territory of Guam. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) (The Associated Press)

North Korean soldiers salute in front of Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the mausoleum where the bodies of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il lie embalmed, in Pyongyang on Thursday, April 25, 2013. North Korea on Thursday marked the 81st anniversary of the founding of its military, which began as an anti-Japanese militia and now has an estimated 1.2-million troops. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) (The Associated Press)

PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea has rejected South Korea's demand for talks on a jointly run factory park that's been closed nearly a month.

Pyongyang on Friday batted back an earlier threat from Seoul with its own warning of "grave measures" over the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

Seoul on Thursday had used the same language to push Pyongyang to accept its demand for talks. Neither capital is providing specifics of what those measures might be. But the war of words calls into question the future of the complex.

The park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong is the most significant casualty so far in the recent deterioration of relations between the Koreas.

Pyongyang barred South Korean managers from entering North Korea and pulled out its workers early this month.