Cross-border passage of South Korean personnel and vehicles to and from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea is operating normally, despite escalating inter-Korean tensions over the sinking of the “Cheonan.”

The Unification Ministry in Seoul said that North Korea issued permission for the entry of South Korean workers into Gaeseong at 8 a.m. Thursday via a military channel at the western border.

Five-hundred-five workers are scheduled to cross the border into the Gaeseong Industrial Park and 638 will return to the South on Thursday. As of 8 a.m. Thursday, 779 South Koreans were on North Korean soil.

A ministry official says Seoul is currently approving South Koreans’ requests to stay in Gaeseong. However, based on government instructions, South Korean companies operating at Gaeseong have halved the number of South Korean workers at their facilities.