South Korean stocks opened lower on Friday as investors sat on the sidelines due to the rising tensions with North Korea, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 8.11 points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,951.34 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Shares lost ground across the board, with No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor losing 1.93 percent and leading chipmaker SK hynix losing 0.86 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO shed 0.78 percent.

North Korea threatened Thursday to pull out its workers from the joint industrial complex in the communist country's border city of Kaesong if South Korea continues to insult Pyongyang's dignity.

The local currency was trading at 1,124.45 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.65 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap News)