North and South Korea set to hold industrial zone talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - The two Koreas appear set to hold talks on a jointly-run industrial zone, weeks after operations were suspended there, BBC News reported.

North Korea proposed talks with Seoul in a statement early on Thursday, June 6 carried by state news agency KCNA.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said it "positively views" the proposal, which follows months of high tension on the peninsula.

The Kaesong industrial zone, just inside North Korea, is a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.

But North Korea pulled out its workers in early April as its relations with the South - and regional neighbours - deteriorated in the wake of its 12 February nuclear test.

Since then operations at the zone, where more than 120 South Korean manufacturers employ some 53,000 North Korea workers, have been fully halted for the first time since the project began a decade ago.

North Korea said late last month it would invite South Korean businessmen back to discuss the resumption of operations but Seoul ruled that out, saying working-level government talks should be held.