TOKYO, July 7 (RIA Novosti) – North and South Korea have agreed to reopen a joint industrial zone to keep alive the only viable economic link between the two countries, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.
The agreement comes after marathon talks held at Tongilgak on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone.
Under the deal, officials from both sides will meet at the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Wednesday to restart operations, discuss safeguards for preventing another shutdown of the industrial park in the future and normalize the zone as soon as both sides “are ready” to do so.
The talks followed months of high tensions on the Korean Peninsula intensified by North Korea's third nuclear test in February and its threats of launching nuclear attacks against South Korea and Washington.
In a further sign of escalating tensions between the North and South, Pyongyang suspended from April all operations at the industrial complex in the border city of Kaesong and pulled out all of its 53,000 staff working for the 123 South Korean companies. Six days before, the North banned South Korean personnel from entering the complex.
