Seoul: North and South Korea held fresh talks on Wednesday on reopening their joint industrial zone, with low hopes of an early agreement following months of friction. A fourth round of talks over the complex, a rare symbol of cooperation between the two rivals, took place just across the border in the North.
Three previous attempts this month all ended in deadlock. “The weather is not so bad today. Do you think we will have good results today?”, the North’s chief delegate Pak Chol-Su said at the start of the talks. “I hope we’ll be able to build a house that can stand against any gusts of wind or pouring rains”, his South Korean counterpart Kim Ki-Woong replied, according to media pool report. At a meeting earlier this month, the two sides agreed in principle to reopen the estate, where 53,000 North Koreans worked in 123 South-owned factories producing textiles or light industrial goods. But little progress has been made since then amid squabbles over which side will take responsibility for the suspension, and Pyongyang’s refusal to accept Seoul’s demand for firm safeguards against another unilateral shutdown. Seoul also wants to allow foreign firms to operate in Kaesong in an apparent bid to make it more difficult for Pyongyang to shut the estate if relations worsen. (PTI)
