Roundup: S.Korea accepts DPRK's dialogue offer on reopening Kaesong complex
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E-mail Xinhua, August 7, 2013
South Korea accepted the proposal made by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to hold talks on reopening the Kaesong industrial complex on Aug. 14, South Korean Unification Ministry said Wednesday.
"As the North (DPRK) proposed, inter-Korean talks will be held on Aug. 14. We hope that the upcoming dialogue would solve the Kaesong complex problem and draw up reasonable measures to normalize the factory park in a constructive way, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok told an emergency press briefing.
Kim noted that Pyongyang took a forward-looking turn toward Seoul's repeated dialogue overtures, saying that South Korea was anticipating the DPRK would show a sincere attitude during the upcoming talks.
The acceptance came around one and a half hours after Pyongyang made the dialogue offer through a special statement. The DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea suggested holding the seventh round of working-level talks at its border town of Kaesong a week later.
The committee said that Pyongyang and Seoul should work together to prevent a recurrence of the factory park's stoppage, noting that both sides should guarantee normal operations of the complex that will not be affected by situations in any case.
Over the past six rounds of talks, the two countries failed to narrow differences over conditions for the factory park normalization. Seoul called for clear assurances to prevent recurrence of Pyongyang's unilateral shutdown of the park, while the DPRK demanded the normalization as early as possible.
The Kaesong industrial complex, where 123 South Korean companies were running factories, has been suspended for about four months since early April when the DPRK withdrew 53,000 of its workers from the factory park in protest against the joint military drill between Seoul and Washington.
The DPRK committee declared the lifting of the temporary ban on the factory park operations, allowing the entry of South Korean companies to Kaesong, guarantee on DPRK workers'normal report to work and safeguards on South Korean personnel and property.
Pyongyang's response came 10 days after Seoul's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae proposed the final offer of talks last week.
It also came one and a half hours later after the Unification Ministry announced its decision to make insurance payment to companies running businesses at the Kaesong complex.
The ministry said that 109 South Korean companies applied for the payment of insurance coming from inter-Korean cooperation funds, noting that if they receive the insurance, rights to company assets and invested capital in Kaesong will be transferred to the government.
The ownership transfer would grant Seoul more room for closing down the factory park with less resistance from the companies. Endi
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