South Korea withdraws citizens from joint factory in the North April 27, 2013 -- Updated 0854 GMT (1654 HKT) South Korea is pulling out its citizens from Kaesong Seoul says it will support the companies invested in the zone 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. 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. The South Koreans in the complex are believed to have been looking after the idle factories there.