North Korea made a last-minute agreement Thursday to hold talks February 1 with South Korea on the development of their jointly run industrial park, dpa quoted a South Korean official as saying. Kim Young Tak, head of South Korea's delegation to this week's talks in the North on the park, said Pyongyang accepted a proposal from Seoul for more talks immediately before Kim's delegation was to return home. The promise to hold further talks came despite a threat from North Korea last week to cut off all dialogue with Seoul. "The North Korean side accepted our proposal... just as we were bidding farewell," Kim said upon his return to Seoul after talks Tuesday and Wednesday at Kaesong, the North Korean border village where the industrial park is located. This week's meetings were called to discuss proposals to improve the industrial park on the basis of visits North and South Korean officials made together in December to industrial parks in China and Vietnam. More than 40,000 North Koreans work for about 110 South Korean firms in the Kaesong park, making products such as shoes, clothing and watches.
