Two Koreas discuss second meeting on joint venture

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By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, May 5 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea are discussing when to hold their
second round of government-level talks over wages at their joint industrial park,
a Seoul official said Tuesday.
Officials of the two Koreas met in the joint park in the North's border town of
Kaesong on April 21 in the first inter-Korean government dialogue in more than a
year. Pyongyang complained that wages South Korean firms pay North Korean
employees in the Kaesong park are too low and should be increased and demanded
the two sides start negotiations.
South Korea has been gauging opinions from the firms to present its position to
the North.
"Discussions are underway for the follow-up talks ... Any agreement on the date
is not likely today," a senior official of the Unification Ministry told
reporters, requesting anonymity due to sensitivity of the issue.
The official declined to say how the discussions are being held. Sources said the
two sides are exchanging viewpoints through communication channels in the Kaesong
management office.
In the first round of talks that lasted only 22 minutes, North Korea presented a
document that demanded South Koreans firms raise wages and also start paying for
land use from next year, four years ahead of schedule.
South Korea pressed for the release of a worker in Kaesong who was detained by
the North on March 30 on charges of criticizing its political system. North Korea
refused to discuss the issue, saying the talks are meant to cover issues relevant
solely to the industrial park.
The Kaesong park, just an hour's drive from Seoul, opened in late 2004 as an
outcome of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 that paved the way for
reconciliatory exchanges. More than 100 South Korean firms operate there to
produce clothes, utensils, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive
products with about 39,000 North Korean workers.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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