Koreas agree to hold talks
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AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 20, 2009 00:00
SEOUL - South Korea yesterday accepted North's proposal for talks on a troubled joint industrial complex, setting up the first official dialogue between two nations in a year amid tensions over the North's recent rocket launch.
Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said officials of the two Koreas would meet in the border town of Kaesong tomorrow to discuss the factory complex. The industrial zone on the northern side of the border is the last major joint project between the Koreas and a key source of foreign currency for the North's isolated regime.
Ties between the Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul last year with a tougher line on the North. North Korea responded by cutting off ties.
In recent months the North has restricted access to the industrial complex by tightening border controls, raising concerns among participating South Korean companies about the project's viability. The meeting comes amid rising tensions over the North's rocket launch and its weeks long detention of a South Korean man in Kaesong accused of denouncing the North's political system. North Korea has expelled international monitors, vowed to restart its nuclear program to protest the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of the April 5 launch.
"We will thoroughly ensure that the inter-Korean contact will be made in a way that secures the safety of people and contributes to the development of the Kaesong complex," Lee said in a statement.
Ties between the Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul last year with a tougher line on the North. North Korea responded by cutting off ties.
In recent months the North has restricted access to the industrial complex by tightening border controls, raising concerns among participating South Korean companies about the project's viability. The meeting comes amid rising tensions over the North's rocket launch and its weeks long detention of a South Korean man in Kaesong accused of denouncing the North's political system. North Korea has expelled international monitors, vowed to restart its nuclear program to protest the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of the April 5 launch.
"We will thoroughly ensure that the inter-Korean contact will be made in a way that secures the safety of people and contributes to the development of the Kaesong complex," Lee said in a statement.