North Korea agrees to lift ban on joint industrial zone
Iran Press TV
Wed Aug 7, 2013 1:43PM GMT
North Korea says it is lifting a ban on operations at a jointly run industrial complex located on the heavily armed border with South Korea.
The announcement by Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea coincides with South Korea's plan to close the industrial zone for good.
North Korean officials have described the South's decision as 'bold and magnanimous.'
Seoul has agreed to hold a new round of talks with the North. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, accepted the North's proposal for talks on Aug. 14.
This latest round of talks over the complex is seen as the toughest since the Kaesong crisis started four months ago.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex has in the past been a symbol of cooperation between the two neighbors. However, it has been shut indefinitely with the withdrawal of all North and South Korean workers back in April.
Tensions began to soar after the United States flew its B-2 nuclear bombers over the peninsula during recent military drills. Pyongyang, in response, threatened to attack the US mainland with nuclear attacks and to enter a war with the South.
Pyongyang has warned that if Washington and Seoul launch a preemptive attack, the conflict "will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war."
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) recently said that the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula is attributable to the US 'heinous hostile policy' toward North Korea.
JR/KA
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