Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

World

SKorean lawmakers tour inter-Korean factory park in North for 1st time since its reopening

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • 57ce0d8a-South Korea Koreas Tension
    Image 1 of 3

    A South Korean military vehicle escorts buses carrying South Korean lawmakers as they head to North Korea's Kaesong Industrial Complex at the Inter-Korean Transit Office near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. The visit is part of the ongoing parliamentary audit session and will involve listening to a briefing by the head of the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee and meeting South Korean businessmen. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (The Associated Press)

  • 68e360c7-South Korea Koreas Tension
    Image 2 of 3

    A South Korean army soldier patrols before lawmakers leave for the Kaesong Industrial Complex at the Inter-Korean Transit Office near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. The visit is part of the ongoing parliamentary audit session and will involve listening to a briefing by the head of the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee and meeting South Korean businessmen. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (The Associated Press)

  • d2ead259-South Korea Koreas Tension
    Image 3 of 3

    Ahn Hong-joon, ccenter, hairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, announces statements before leaving for the Kaesong Industrial Complex at the Inter-Korean Transit Office near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. The visit is part of the ongoing parliamentary audit session and will involve listening to a briefing by the head of the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee and meeting South Korean businessmen. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (The Associated Press)

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea lawmakers on Wednesday toured a jointly run factory park in North Korea for the first time since it reopened last month after a five-month shutdown.

The Kaesong complex just north of the border is the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project. Its operations halted in April when Pyongyang withdrew its workers amid high tension over Pyongyang's repeated threats of nuclear war.

North Korea later toned down its rhetoric and sought to revive dormant reconciliation projects with South Korea, but animosities remain between the rivals. Pyongyang abruptly canceled planned reunions last month of families separated by war.

On Wednesday, 21 South Korean lawmakers traveled to the Kaesong complex to look at its operations and meet with South Korean businessmen there, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Park Soo-jin told reporters in Seoul. The lawmakers were to return home the same day, she said.

Analysts say Pyongyang's approval of the lawmakers' visit shows its desire to develop the park and resume other stalled lucrative cross-border cooperation projects.

North Korea last week repatriated six South Korean men accused of illegal entry in a rare action seen as an effort to improve frayed ties with South Korea.

The Korean Peninsula officially remains at state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.