Two Koreas agree to re-open joint industrial park
North and South Korea have agreed to reopen a jointly operated industrial park that was closed in April, a joint statement said.
Seoul\’s Unification Ministry said a five-point agreement was reached Wednesday following a seventh round of talks at the industrial complex. No other details about the agreement were immediately available.
In April, North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from Kaesong in anger over U.S.-South Korean military exercises and international sanctions against its February nuclear test. South Korean businesses pulled out their managers and workers in early May.
Seoul has repeatedly pushed for assurances that Pyongyang will not shut the complex down again.
The latest round of negotiations came just days before the United States and South Korea begin an annual military drill.
North Korea last week proposed the latest round of talks. The offer came just hours after Seoul said it would start paying compensation to Kaesong\’s South Korean manufacturers. The move was seen by many as a sign of the South Korean government\’s readiness to abandon the project.
The industrial park, which manufactured goods with cheap North Korean labor, provided a key source of foreign income to the leadership of the impoverished North. It is located just north of the inter-Korean border.
Kaesong was the last remaining sign of cooperation between the two longtime foes. This has been the first total shutdown of the complex since it opened in 2004.
Source: Agencies
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