S. Korean officials visit Kaesong Industrial Complex to inspect facilities

A delegation of 30 South Korean officials made a cross-border trip to inspect facilities at a shuttered inter-Korean industrial park on Saturday, following a recent agreement between the two Koreas to resume its operations.

The officials' trip to the Kaesong Industrial Complex comes three days after the Koreas agreed to reopen the troubled factory park that had been closed since early April.

According to the unification ministry here, the 30-person delegation is made of up officials from the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, KT, Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Water Resources Corp. They will inspect facilities for electricity, communication and water, and are scheduled to return home around 5 p.m. Saturday.  

On Monday, another delegation of 34 people, including environmental experts, will also visit the complex.   

These trips will make it possible for South Korean companies to send their workers to the complex and start preparing to resume production there.  

On Wednesday, the two Koreas agreed to reopen the Kaesong park, which was abruptly shut down in early April when the North pulled out its 53,000 workers hired by the 123 South Korean plants.

Pyongyang had cited heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula, caused by the South's joint military exercises with the United States, as the reason for its action.   

Under the recent agreement, the North pledged never again close down the industrial park under any circumstances. The two sides, however, failed to agree on when to reopen the Kaesong complex, a by-product of the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000 and a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation.(YONHAP)