AlQa'dah 7, 1434, Sep 13, 2013, SPA -- South Korea was pressing North Korea Friday for guarantees for the safety of South Korean personnel in a jointly operated industrial zone due to re-open next week just north of the border, according to dpa. "We want a firm commitment from North Korea," a spokeswoman for the South Korean Unification Ministry said. The Kaesong industrial park was to re-open Monday, five months after it was closed amid a bout of increased tensions, under an agreement sealed in principle this week. Friday's negotiations included terms for the safety of South Korean personnel at the facility, around 10 kilometres north of the border. The compound houses 123 South Korean companies, employing several hundred South Korean and more than 50,000 North Korean workers before it ceased operations in April. Communications channels and customs clearance procedures were also still being discussed Friday, the spokeswoman said. The Kaesong joint management committee earlier announced that South Korean firms will not have to pay taxes to the North for the rest of 2013, "to compensate losses" during the closure. Operations were halted at Kaesong in April, when first Pyongyang and then Seoul pulled their workers and managers out, each side blaming the other amid rising tensions. The complex provides jobs and foreign exchange to the North, and cheap labour to Southern industries.
