Koreas hold fifth round of Kaesong industrial zone talks

North and South Korea held a fifth round of talks today on reopening a joint industrial complex, after previous meetings failed to agree on a framework for resuming operations.
Production at the Kaesong estate has been suspended since North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex in April at the height of soaring military tensions with the South.
Working-level officials from both sides have already met four times this month to discuss the future of the complex, established in 2004 as a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
The talks have been dominated by mutual recrimination over the cause of the shutdown, and the unwillingness of either side to be seen to make any concession to get Kaesong running again.

Today's fifth round was again held in Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) inside North Korea and which, prior to its shutdown, hosted 123 South Korean companies.
"We will try our best to produce results that are acceptable to South Korean people," Kim Ki-Woong, the chief of the South's three-member delegation, said before crossing the border.

The South is insisting North Korea provide guarantees to prevent any repetition of what Seoul insists was the unilateral closure of Kaesong by Pyongyang.
The North says it was not responsible, arguing that its hand was forced by hostile South Korean actions and intimidation -- in particular a series of joint military exercises with the United States.

After the fourth round of talks last Wednesday, Kim said there was "a big difference" between the parties on working out a legal framework to prevent a future closure.
The South has proposed allowing foreign firms to operate there in the apparent belief that it would make it more difficult for the North to shut down the complex at will.
North Korea wants an unconditional and early restart of operations, and both sides have accused the other of lacking sincerity in the negotiating process.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye urged the North to learn from other communist nations that have benefited by reforming their economies and adopting global codes of practise.

"Many countries including China and Vietnam have proven that offering internationally-accepted environments for investors will bring in bigger benefits," Park said in a meeting with advisors today.
"I hope that the latest talks will produce meaningful and sustainable agreement," she added.
Born out of the "Sunshine Policy" of inter-Korean conciliation initiated in the late 1990s by South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, Kaesong was a crucial hard currency source for the impoverished North through taxes, revenues, and its cut of worker wages.