South Korea proposes ‘final’ talks over Kaesong
29 July 2013 11:39 PM GMT
South Korea Sunday proposed ‘final’ talks with the North over the fate of a shuttered joint industrial zone, suggesting it may permanently close the estate if the negotiations fail.
The latest offer came after six recent rounds of talks aimed at reviving the Seoul-invested Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea - suspended since April - produced little signs of progress.
‘We are offering the final talks to discuss the issue (of Kaesong),’ Ryoo Kihl-Jae, Seoul’s unification minister in charge of cross-border affairs, told reporters.
Seoul will send a formal proposal across the border tomorrow, he said, without elaborating on when the talks would be held.
The Kaesong complex, built in 2004 as a rare symbol of cooperation, had survived previous inter-Korean crises but eventually became the most high-profile casualty of two months of elevated tensions following a nuclear test by the North in February which sparked international condemnation.
Production at the estate, 10 kilometres over the border, has been suspended since North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from the zone in April at the height of military tensions with the South.
The latest offer came after six recent rounds of talks aimed at reviving the Seoul-invested Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea - suspended since April - produced little signs of progress.
‘We are offering the final talks to discuss the issue (of Kaesong),’ Ryoo Kihl-Jae, Seoul’s unification minister in charge of cross-border affairs, told reporters.
Seoul will send a formal proposal across the border tomorrow, he said, without elaborating on when the talks would be held.
The Kaesong complex, built in 2004 as a rare symbol of cooperation, had survived previous inter-Korean crises but eventually became the most high-profile casualty of two months of elevated tensions following a nuclear test by the North in February which sparked international condemnation.
Production at the estate, 10 kilometres over the border, has been suspended since North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from the zone in April at the height of military tensions with the South.
Next Story
