S. Korea mulls ways to resume talks with N. Korea

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea was reviewing various plans to try to lure
North Korea back to the negotiating table, despite the North's recent
announcement that it has scrapped all contracts governing an inter-Korean
industrial complex on its soil, officials said Sunday.
The North unilaterally said on Friday it has torn up all its contracts with the
South on the Kaesong joint industrial park. Unless the South accepts its new
terms, including higher wages for some 39,000 North Korean workers, South Korean
firms operating there should leave, it said.
About 100 South Korean garment and other labor-intensive goods producers have
factories in the border city. The complex has been mired in politics over the
past year as ties have frayed between Seoul and Pyongyang.
Hours before the North's announcement on Friday, the South Korean government
proposed a cross-border meeting for Monday to discuss a detained South Korean
worker. The man has been held by North Korean authorities since March 30 for
allegedly criticizing Pyongyang's communist regime.
"The government's stance is firm that issues related to the Kaesong Industrial
Complex should be resolved through dialogue," said a government official.
It remained unclear whether the North would accept the South's proposal.
"We continue to urge the North to respond to talks via a channel in Kaesong," the
official said.
Another government official indicated the South Korean government may make
concessions on the new Kaesong terms if Pyongyang guarantees the safety of the
detainee, identified only by his surname Yu.
"The issue surrounding Yu isn't a matter of negotiation," said the official,
adding the issue would be resolved only if the North releases the detainee. "But
other issues, such as wages, taxes and rent (in the Kaesong industrial complex)
could be resolved throughout dialogue."
During the first government-level meeting with the South in more than a year last
month, the North delivered a seven-page document in which it sought to revise
existing terms on the Kaesong zone, refusing to discuss the detainee.
In addition to a raise in wages for North Korean workers there, the North said it
will collect fees for land leased to South Korean plants at Kaesong beginning in
2010 -- four years ahead of schedule.
At that time, the North said it was forced to halt all "preferential treatment"
previously offered to South Korean firms because of the Seoul government's
hostile policy towards it.
(END)