Korean talks on factories end with no breakthrough
North and South Korea end talks on stalled factory park with no major breakthrough
South Korean owners who run factories in the stalled South Korea and North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex, and workers, check their vehicles before they leave for North Korea's city Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. As North and South Korean delegates agreed over the last weekend on a desire to restart the stalled jointly run factory park, North Korea agreed to let South Korean factory managers visit Kaesong to retrieve products and supplies left at the complex, and inspect factory equipment from Wednesday to decrease possible damage ahead of the rainy season, according to the KCNA and the Unification Ministry. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Talks between the rival Koreas aimed at restarting a stalled inter-Korean factory park have ended with no breakthrough. But both sides agreed Wednesday to meet again next week in a North Korean border town.
Operations at the Kaesong complex just over the border in North Korea stalled in April during high tensions that followed Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February. The rivals recently agreed on a desire to reopen the complex but are still discussing how to do that.
Also Wednesday, South Korean representatives of factories that operated at Kaesong visited the complex and inspected equipment that they worry could be ruined during the rainy season.
The complex combines South Korean knowhow and cheap North Korean labor. It was the countries' last remaining major cooperation project.
