S Korea proposes to hold working-level military talks with DPRK
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South Korea on Friday suggested holding working-level military talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on improving logistics at their joint industrial park in the border town of Kaesong on Feb. 23, the government said.
South Korea sent a message earlier Friday to the DPRK to suggest meeting in the village of Panmunjum, and the DPRK is expected to accept the proposal, Seoul's defense ministry said.
The move came after South Korea and the DPRK wrapped up two rounds of separate working-level talks on improving operations at the industrial park, which failed to narrow their differences on pending issues.
The DPRK in late January proposed to immediately hold military talks on improving transportation, communications and customs systems there, but the South Korean defense ministry rejected the request, opting to wait for the second round of a working-level meeting that came on Feb. 1.
The Kaesong industrial park has been one of the key symbols of economic cooperation between the two sides, though worsening ties between the two sides have occasionally put operations there in danger.
Currently, some 110 South Korean companies are based in the complex, employing about 42,000 workers from the DPRK mostly producing labor-intensive goods.
