2 Koreas open new talks on joint industrial park

The Associated Press ,  Seoul   |  Fri, 06/19/2009 10:08 AM  |  World

Officials from the two Koreas began a third round of talks Friday on the fate of a joint industrial complex, facing an uncertain future after North Korea detained a South Korean working there and later demanded a 3,000 percent hike in rent for the site.

The meeting at the complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong comes amid tension on the peninsula over the North's missile and nuclear program. Pyogyang last week vowed to bolster its nuclear arsenal and threatened war to protest sanctions imposed by the U.N. following its May 25 nuclear test.

The Unification Ministry said the government will urge North Korea to release a South Korean worker detained in March for allegedly denouncing Pyongyang's political system. They will also discuss Pyongyang's demands for increase in the rent for the site and a fourfold hike in wages for 40,000 North Korean workers employed there, the ministry said.

"The top priority is the issue of the release of our worker who has been detained for more than 80 days," South Kora's chief delegate at the talks, Kim Young-tak, told reporters before leaving for the North.

But the prospects for significant progress were slim because the two sides remained miles apart on key issues.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has demanded the immediate release of the South Korean worker and rejected the North's "reckless" demands for increase in rent and wages.

The North has repeatedly rejected Seoul's calls for the worker's freedom.

When it was set up in 2004, the Kaesong Industrial Complex was seen as the most potent symbol of reconciliation between the two nations on the divided peninsula. It combined the South's capital and technology with the North's cheap labor.

One of the 106 South Korean companies at the park has pulled out, citing security concerns and reduced business due to the tension.

Relations between the two divided Koreas have deteriorated since Lee took office in Seoul in February last year. His hard-line policies prompted the North to cut off ties with the South and halt all key joint projects except for the South Korean-run complex at Kaesong.
  

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