A domestic civic group says North Korea is likely to begin expelling South Korean workers from the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North.

The Civic Alliance of South and North Korea says the North will strengthen its entry restrictions at the complex starting next month.

In its first dismissal, the group expects the North to expel 12 to 14 of the South Korean employees stationed at the complex.

In a spokesman's statement Sunday on Pyongyang's Korean Central Television, the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland blasted President Lee Myung-bak for his recent remark that Seoul's ultimate goal is to unify the two Koreas into a free democracy.

A Seoul official said Pyongyang has unilaterally decided to sever inter-Korean ties and has exaggerated Lee's statement.

North Korea's criticisms of the South are considered a strategic move to be followed by enhanced border passage control, increased blockades and other hard-line measures.