S. Korean lawmakers seek to visit Kaesong industrial complex

SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean lawmaker said Wednesday that a group of his fellow legislators will visit the two Koreas' joint industrial complex in North Korea either in October or November. Rep. Nam Kyung-pil of the ruling Grand National Party said a group of lawmakers under the foreign affairs and trade committee of the National Assembly is planning to visit the factory park in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, and he is in talks with the government over the plan. On Tuesday, Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, South Korea's ruling party chief, said he plans to visit the complex later this week as tensions are still running high between the two rival states following the North's deadly attacks on the South last year. "Nothing has been decided yet, but we are thinking (of visiting) in October or November," Nam said. The factory park is the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement that had boomed following their first-ever summit in 2000. The complex was designed to combine cheap North Korean labor and South Korean capital and technology. Currently, more than 46,000 North Koreans work at about 120 South Korean-run factories there. Relations between the two Koreas turned sour after President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a pledge to link aid to the communist nation to progress in efforts to end Pyongyang's nuclear programs. The ties worsened further last year after North Korea's two deadly attacks on the South.