The following is a chronology of major events leading up to South Korea calling for official government-level talks to resolve the suspension of operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex on April 25.

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.

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 Kaesong.

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 Kaesong 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 Kaesong.

April 24: Seoul announces a pan-governmental action plan to help South Korean companies with factories in Kaesong. 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 Kaesong 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. (Yonhap News)