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No breakthrough in Kaesong talks

SEOUL — Officials from North and South Korea met yesterday for the third time this month, but again failed to find a way to reopen a factory park that was a key symbol of cooperation between the two countries before its shutdown in April.

South Korean delegation head Kim Ki Woong (left), meeting his North Korean counterpart Park Chol Su in Kaesong on Monday. Photo: Reuters

South Korean delegation head Kim Ki Woong (left), meeting his North Korean counterpart Park Chol Su in Kaesong on Monday. Photo: Reuters

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SEOUL — Officials from North and South Korea met yesterday for the third time this month, but again failed to find a way to reopen a factory park that was a key symbol of cooperation between the two countries before its shutdown in April.

The two sides will meet again tomorrow at the complex located at the North Korean border town of Kaesong, having made no progress yesterday, the Unification Ministry said.

The park opened in 2004 during a period of rapprochement between the rivals. Operations stopped in April when tensions ran high in the wake of Pyongyang’s February nuclear test.

The two Koreas recently agreed on a desire to reopen the complex after the North began showing signs of an interest in diplomacy after weeks of threatening rhetoric in March and April. Delegates met last week at Kaesong to discuss details on how to revive the park, but the meeting ended without a breakthrough.

Seoul has demanded for safeguards to prevent future closures, while Pyongyang is calling on its neighbour not to do anything that hinders operations at Kaesong — including conducting military exercises which it says are insults against Pyongyang’s leadership.

The outcome of the talks will “have a bearing on overall inter-Korean relations” and the South will face “serious misfortune” if it maintains its “arrogant demeanour”, the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea told the South on July 11, according to a notice carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency on July 13.

The complex, which blends South Korean capital and management skills with cheap North Korean labour, was the last remaining major symbol of cooperation between the two countries before its suspension.

Other rapprochement projects, such as reunions of families separated by war and tours to a scenic North Korean mountain, have stalled amid recent animosities.

South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s government has said it will not engage the North until it gives up its nuclear weapons, aside from talks on joint economic projects and humanitarian issues.

Ms Park was elected last year partly on a pledge to boost ties through “trust-building” and she has said a nuclear-armed North Korea is unacceptable.

The two Koreas remain divided by the world’s most heavily fortified border. Their three-year war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, in 1953. Agencies

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