Divided Koreas hold talks on improving joint industrial park

(ATTN: UPDATES with extension of talks in para 3, separate lunch in para 9; TRIMS
throughout; RECASTS lead, headline)

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- The divided Koreas on Wednesday held the second and
last round of two-day talks aimed at enhancing their joint operation of an
industrial park in the North, the Unification Ministry here said.
Representatives from the two countries had met a day earlier in the North Korean
border city of Kaesong and held "useful talks while brainstorming ideas for
improving the industrial complex" there, ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said
in a briefing.
"Based on the ideas put forth yesterday, the two sides are having a comprehensive
discussion on their proposals for the improvement of the Kaesong complex," she
said. She later told reporters that the talks were extended by a few hours as the
agenda, including the arrangement of future meetings, demanded longer
discussions.
Some 110 South Korean firms operate in Kaesong near the west coast, employing
about 42,000 North Korean workers, one of the most symbolic outcomes of the first
summit between the countries in 2000.
A team of 16 South Korean officials crossed the heavily armed inter-Korean border
Tuesday morning to reach Kaesong amid tension that heightened after the North
warned last week that it would mount a "sacred" battle on South Korea over a
reported contingency plan.
The plan, which the South Korean government denies having made, reportedly set
out a series of guidelines in case the impoverished communist neighbor implodes,
sparking political and economic chaos.
The representatives from Seoul, led by Kim Young-tak, were scheduled to return
later Wednesday across the military demarcation line that bisects the Korean
Peninsula, Lee said.
She declined to discuss details of the proposals the two sides made, saying it
was inappropriate to do so before the talks ended. Kim will give a briefing on
the results of the meetings after returning from the trip, she said.
She also said the delegates from the two sides held a separate lunch. North Korea
had not agreed to a joint evening session the day earlier after the first round
took place in a "serious and practical mood," according to ministry spokesperson
Chun Hae-sung.
The talks were a follow-up to the joint survey of industrial parks in China and
Vietnam last month. A 10-member delegation from each side visited Chinese and
Vietnamese industrial complexes from Dec. 12-22 to explore ways to revamp the
Kaesong complex.
According to the South, the two sides reached consensus during the trip on the
need to make the Kaesong park internationally competitive. The North focused on
wage and insurance systems at the industrial parks, while the South examined
infrastructure, safety issues, tax benefits and customs systems.
Labor-intensive goods such as electronics, clothing and kitchenware make up the
bulk of items produced in the park, whose fate came into question last year after
relations between the Koreas deteriorated to their lowest level in recent
history.
In a New Year's message this year, North Korea called for an end to hostilities
with the United States and described its willingness to reconcile with the South
as unshakable. It also declared its intent to improve light industries and
agriculture as part of its campaign to raise the standard of living for its
people.
The focus on the economy intensified in the impoverished North after the regime
went ahead with the first redenomination of its currency in 17 years in a measure
that it said was aimed at taming inflation. Observers say the reform targeted
those accumulating wealth in market activities outside state purview while
assisting efforts to reassert government control over the faltering economy.
South and North Korea remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War
ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
(END)