South and North Korea resumed talks on Monday aimed at reviving a suspended joint factory park in the communist country, with neither side showing clear signs of making concessions.
Working-level officials from both sides have met four times this month but failed to agree on terms to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex. North Korea has demanded an immediate resumption of work at the factory zone, while South Korea has insisted on securing safety measures to prevent another suspension, for which the two Koreas blame each other.
"There are high expectations for both sides engage in earnest talks to resolve outstanding problems and to use the current situation to lay a firm foundation for the growth of the Kaesong complex," said Kim Ki-woong, the chief South Korean delegate to the talks, in a keynote address.
At the start of talks he expressed hope that both sides would hold a frank discussion. Earlier in the day, Kim said before leaving for the meeting in the North that every effort will be made to bring about results that are acceptable to the people.
In response, Park Chol-su, the North's chief delegate hinted that he was interested in knowing the views of the South Korean leadership on the industrial park issue, claiming that the leadership in Pyongyang is supportive of its normalization.
The remarks reflect comments made by some North Korean personnel who told their South Korean counterparts that Seoul is being overly "hard-line" on reopening the complex for business.
In the latest round of working-level talks to reopen the joint complex, the two Koreas will try to find a common footing on the conditions to resume operations there.
The Kaesong factory zone came to a screeching halt in early April when North Korea withdrew all its 53,000 workers there, citing provocations from the joint Seoul-Washington military drills.
The joint factory park was created as a result of a historic inter-Korean summit in 2000 and had been a major symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement.
Three-man delegations from each side began the working-level dialogue at 10 a.m. in a South Korean-built management center located in the Kaesong complex, said the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs. It said the first meeting was concluded as of 10:30 a.m. with both sides outlining their views.
Seoul's delegation, headed by Kim, crossed the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at 8:30 a.m., along with a team of support staff and reporters.
During the last round of talks held Wednesday, both sides stuck to their guns, failing to iron out differences over the industrial zone's normalization.
Details of what was proposed have not been made public, although the South has repeatedly demanded the North provide a firm guarantee that it will not close the complex down in the future and set up a system to protect the safety and property of South Koreans who have invested and worked in Kaesong. Seoul has said one way to prevent another unilateral closure is to turn the park located just north of the DMZ into an international complex.
The North, however, has been reluctant to accept Seoul's demand and continued to blame the South for the suspension of operations at Kaesong, even claiming that Seoul is not sincere in its efforts to find middle ground.
North Korea watchers in Seoul, meanwhile, expected the day's talks will again revolve around efforts to bridge the gap on how to revive the park that has sat idle for more than three months.
Seoul and Pyongyang are in agreement on "constructive development" of the industrial complex, but they are approaching the matter differently, they said.
"Seoul wants firm preconditions, while Pyongyang has called for an immediate normalization once companies are ready to do so," said a source at a state-run think tank on the condition of anonymity. "Unless one side relents, progress may not be forthcoming."
If no headway is made soon, Kaesong talks may stall, having an adverse impact on cross-border relations that have been at their lowest ebb this year in a decade, he said. (Yonhap News)
