A senior North Korean defense official on Wednesday warned that Pyongyang's December first measures to restrict inter-Korean border passage are not temporary and could become even stricter.

Policy chief Kim Yong-chol of the North's National Defense Commission made the remark during his inspection of the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Gaeseong.

At a meeting with heads of South Korean companies operating at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, the two-star general warned that Seoul should not mistake the measures as temporary or symbolic.

He argued that the North can make do without the South-North joint industrial project.