South Korea said Sunday it will extend a "final offer" for talks to North Korea to discuss thenormalization of a suspended inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border town of Gaeseong.
The Gaeseong Industrial Complex has remained shuttered since early April as the North unilaterally withdrew its workers from South Korean companies there amid heightened tensions on the peninsula.
The two sides have held six rounds of negotiations to reopen the factory zone, but to no avail. Seoul has demanded safeguards to prevent any recurrence of a unilateral shutdown, while Pyongyang has insisted on an immediate resumption.
"The government will make a final proposal for talks with North Korea to discuss (the Gaeseong complex issue)," Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said in a statement.
"We have asked North Korea to give a clear answer to Seoul's call for measures to prevent a recurrence (of the suspension)," said Ryoo. "The government has no other choice but to make a grave decision as companies with factories in Gaeseong are suffering ballooning losses."
The minister also said Seoul will "approve five civic organizations' humanitarian aid to North Korea and support projects for infants there pushed by UNICEF," Ryoo said, citing the U.N. Children's Fund.
The closure of the complex caused by the North's withdrawal of its 53,000 laborers in April led to up to 1.05 trillion won (US$935 million) in damages to the 123 South Korean companies with factories in the industrial zone.
The complex that first started production in late 2004 was the
result of the historic inter-Korean summit meeting held in 2000 and
is viewed as a symbol of rapprochement between the two Koreas. (Yonhap News)
