Seoul, July 10: North Korean authorities have accused South Korea of pushing talks on the fate of a troubled joint industrial complex to the brink of collapse.
North Korean sources said Pyongyang will take firm action unless Seoul adopts a more sincere approach to the bilateral talks.
The warning comes after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the future of the Seoul-funded estate located on the North Korean border.
The South Korean and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s delegations held the third round of government-level talks at the Kaesong Joint Industrial Complex on Thursday.
Pyongyang says it wants higher wages for its workers and an increase in rent. South Korea has rejected the demand.
The Kaesong industrial complex is the only major project between the two Koreas. More than one-hundred South Korean firms operate there, providing jobs for over 40-thousand North Korean workers.
Pyongyang has demanded for increase in the rent for the site and a fourfold increase in wages for 40,000 North’s workers employed at the complex.
Relations between the two Koreas deteriorated after the conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak came to power in Seoul last year.
The developments come as tension in the troubled Korean peninsula has escalated over North’s May 25 nuclear test and a series of missile launches since then.
—–Agencies