North Korea demands higher wages for workers employed by South at joint industrial park

This Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, photo, shows a joint run industrial complex between South Korea and North Korea, in Kaesong as photographed from the Dora Observation Post in Paju, South Korea near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War. North Korea has told South Korea that it plans to raise the minimum wage for North Koreans employed by southern companies at a jointly run industrial park starting in March 2015, officials said Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) (The Associated Press)

SEOUL, South Korea – Officials say North Korea has told rival South Korea that it plans to raise the minimum wage for North Koreans employed by southern companies at a jointly run industrial park.

An official from Seoul's Unification Ministry said Thursday that the South rejected the North's decision because it wasn't a mutual agreement. The official said the South offered to meet next month to discuss the wages of workers at the Kaesong industrial park in North Korea, but the North refused to consider the offer.

Analysts in Seoul say North Korea has been trying to gain the upper hand over South Korea in decision-making at the park, which has been a significant source of income for the North since it opened in 2004.