Koreas open new talks on troubled industrial park

The Associated Press ,  Seoul   |  Thu, 07/02/2009 9:19 AM  |  World

North and South Korea began a new round of talks Thursday on their troubled joint industrial complex, including Seoul's demand that a detained South Korean worker be freed.

Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters that the meeting started Thursday morning at the North Korean border town of Kaesong, less than an hour's drive from Seoul. He did not elaborate.

The meeting comes amid international tensions over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. The United States is seeking Chinese support to enforce U.N. sanctions slapped on Pyongyang to punish the regime for conducting an underground nuclear test in May.

A U.S. delegation headed by envoy Philip Goldberg was scheduled to hold talks with Chinese officials in Beijing on the sanctions later in the day. Goldberg, a former ambassador, is in charge of coordinating the sanctions' implementation.

As relations with South Korea have deteriorated, the North has halted all key joint projects except for the South Korean-run complex at Kaesong, a prominent symbol of reconciliation. The project combines the South's technology and management expertise with the North's cheap labor.

But its viability has come under question in recent months as North Korea refused to release a South Korean worker detained in March for allegedly denouncing Pyongyang's political system, while demanding a massive increase in payments and rent at the industrial park.

Kim Young-tak, Seoul's chief delegate to the talks, told reporters as he left for North Korea that the North should make sure there is progress on the detention, according to Yonhap news agency.

But the prospects for any significant progress were slim because the two Koreas remained far apart on key issues. The North has repeatedly rejected Seoul's calls for the worker's freedom during three previous rounds of talks.

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

The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Relations have deteriorated sinc conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office last year with a harder line toward North Korea.
      

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.