North, S. Koreas holding talks on reopening Kaesong industrial complex

PanARMENIAN.Net - Officials from North and South Korea are holding talks on reopening the Kaesong industrial complex. The two sides sat down together on Saturday, July 6 at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone, BBC News reported.

Work at the factory park - a major source of income for the North - was halted in April amid high regional tensions. Attempts to hold high-level talks last month failed on procedural grounds.

The meeting is being held on the North Korea side of Panmunjom, South Korean officials said.

Seoul suggested the working-level talks on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang said South Korean businessmen could visit the closed complex to inspect and maintain equipment. Late on Thursday, North Korea accepted the offer, the South said.

Prior to operations being suspended, there were around 120 South Korean businesses in the factory park. The companies have been unable to retrieve goods and materials for three months. Some have since threatened to abandon the zone entirely and relocate their equipment.

Pyongyang withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test in February, and annual South Korea-US military drills.

Kaesong was seen as a symbol of inter-Korean ties and its closure showed how serious this year's political tensions were, the BBC's Seoul Correspondent Lucy Williamson reports.

The talks are very limited but could pave the wave for discussion of bigger issues such as North Korea's nuclear programme, the BBC correspondent adds.