N. Korea keeps mum on letter urging reopening of Kaesong

SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has not given any response to a letter from an association of South Korean businesspeople calling for reopening the shuttered inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, the unification ministry said Monday.

Marking the fourth anniversary of the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the association of businesspeople who once operated factories there held a rally in Seoul last Monday and urged the government to do everything to reopen the factory park.

They also asked the ministry to deliver the North a letter urging Pyongyang to allow businesspeople to visit the industrial complex to prepare for the resumption of its operation. Officials said the contents of the letter and its purpose were explained verbally through the joint liaison office Wednesday.

"North Korea has not shown any response over the issue yet," Yoh Sang-key, the ministry's spokesperson, said in a regular press briefing.

In 2016, Seoul closed the Kaesong Industrial Complex in retaliation against the North's fourth nuclear test. Efforts to resume the complex since then have made little progress amid a protracted stalemate in denuclearization talks.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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