The following is a chronology of major events leading up to Seoul pulling the last seven South Korean workers from the Gaeseong complex on May 3.

2013

March 27: North Korea severs the military hotline with the South, which is used to facilitate cross-border movement of personnel and cargo.

March 30: North Korea's General Bureau for the Special Zone Development Guidance threatens to shut down the industrial park.

April 3: North Korea bans South Korean workers from entering the park but permits people to leave and cross over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

April 4: North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) again threatens to shut down the park.

April 5: Three South Korean firms halt operations due to a lack of materials.

April 7: The number of South Korean firms suspending operations increases to 13. A South Korean worker is rushed from the park to a South Korean hospital after complaining of a stomachache.

April 8: Kim Yang-gon, a member of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, announces the North's decision to withdraw all of its workers from the park and suspend operations there.

April 9: All 53,000 North Korean workers fail to show up for work, halting all production at the 123 South Korean factories in the complex.

April 11: Unification minister Ryoo Kihl-jae issues a statement calling for talks with North Korea. President Park Geun-hye also stresses the need for inter-Korean dialogue.

April 14: The CPRK rejects Seoul's call for talks.

April 17: The North snubs a request by South Korean businessmen to visit Gaeseong.

April 18: A CPRK spokesman says there will be no dialogue until Seoul gives up its provocative actions. He claimed South Korea's call for talks was a ploy to deflect blame from the Gaeseong impasse. North Korea's National Defense Commission makes it clear Seoul and Washington must halt provocations and apologize.

April 19: The North rejects requests by representatives of South Korea's small and medium enterprises to visit Gaeseong.

April 24: Seoul announces a pan-governmental action plan to help South Korean companies with factories in Gaeseong. North Korea ignores calls to hold informal talks aimed at allowing food and medical personnel back into the industrial complex.

April 25: South Korea calls for official government-level talks to handle the Gaeseong standoff and warns it will take serious action if Pyongyang does not make its position on the matter known.

April 26: South Korea decides to withdraw all of its workers from the complex after North Korea rejected its offer of talks to resolve the standoff.

April 27: The last 175 managers and workers employed by the 123 companies with factories at Gaeseong return to South Korea, leaving only administrative and service personnel at the inter-Korean industrial complex.

April 29: Forty-three people working for the Gaeseong Industrial District Management Committee, Korea Land and Housing Corp. KEPCO and KT return, crossing over the DMZ at around midnight.

May 3: The last seven South Korean personnel left behind in Gaeseong to settle various financial accounts for local businesses leave the industrial complex and return home, effectively shutting down the Gaeseong industrial complex that has been in operation for just under 10 years. (Yonhap News)