North Korea and South Korea have begun the second round of talks at reopening the joint Kaesong complex.(file photo)
North and South Korea have launched the second round of talks on a timetable for reopening the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone.
The Kaesong joint committee meeting began in Kaesong, 10 kilometers (six miles) over the border in North Korea at 10 am local time (0100 GMT) on Tuesday, one week after the first round of talks, which ended in an obstacle raised by the Southern neighbor.
Seoul, during the committee meeting held on September 2, had demanded that North Korea pay compensation to those companies sustained damage by the closure of the complex.
“We will pick up where we left off last time, and focus on ensuring that our businessmen can engage in their activities in a free and comfortable atmosphere,” the head of the South Korean delegate to the panel Kim Ki-Woong said.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex, established in 2004, has been a rare symbol of cross-border cooperation between two Koreas for the past few years.
The complex, where some 53,000 North Koreans worked, was shut down in April 2013 as tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang over the joint military exercises by the South and the United States intensified.
In August, the North and the South struck a deal to cooperate on resumption of operations at disputed Kaesong, under which Pyongyang accepted Seoul™s appeal for opening Kaesong to overseas investors. The move would bar North Korea from closing the complex again in the future.
Pyongyang has repeatedly blamed the US for the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula, saying the ongoing dispute between the two neighbors is attributable to the US ˜heinous hostile policy™ toward North Korea.
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Copyright: Press TV