By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter

North Korea indicated Friday that it was willing to completely lift restrictions on inter-Korean border-crossings imposed last December on companies operating in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

However, observers here cast doubt about the North's real intentions to do so without any conditions.

``North Korea's demands have been quite consistent so far, even though they are irrational. This time, there must be some context behind them,'' Prof. Yang Moo-jin at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told The Korea Times.

``But on the whole, Pyongyang is seemingly trying to take the lead in dealing with the complex issues, and reversing Seoul's North Korea policy,'' he added.

Meanwhile, the South Korean delegation called for the prompt release of a worker detained in the North and suggested making the industrial park an internationally competitive complex.

``Through the 40-minute keynote speech, we proposed having a joint inspection of industrial complexes in third countries, starting from July,'' Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters.

``The first destinations would be Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, the second areas would be central Asia and the final places would be America,'' he added.

North Korea showed no response to the proposal, South Korea's chief negotiator Kim Young-tak said.

More than 100 local companies running factories in the industrial park have had difficulty doing business there after North Korea began to restrict border crossings in retaliation for the Lee Myung-bak administration's tougher stance toward it.

Some conservative civic groups fueled Pyongyang's anger by sending fliers attached to balloons across the border criticizing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's dictatorship.

After the so-called Dec. 1 measure, the Stalinist state decreased the number of people and vehicles crossing the border from the South to 750 and 450 a day, respectively.

It claimed during the second meeting that early payment of rent for the complex should be settled first, the spokesman said.

Pyongyang asked Seoul on June 11 to pay $500 million for the use of 1-million-pyeong of land (approximately 3.3 square kilometers) in the complex and increase the monthly salary of workers there to $300 from the current $70-$80.

President Lee earlier affirmed that Seoul could not accept the North's excessive demands to quadruple wages and hike the rent 31-fold.

Amid mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a report by the National Assembly estimated that the government and companies that operate in the complex may lose more than 1 trillion won ($788million) if they withdraw from Gaeseong.

The delegation from Seoul rejected North Korea's demands and instead called on their counterparts to immediately release the 34-year-old Hyundai Asan worker identified as Yu. He was detained late March on charges of making derogatory comments about the regime there and attempting to entice a North Korean female worker to defect to the South.

North Korean authorities have refused to allow South Korean officials and attorneys to see him.

The two sides agreed to have a third round of talks on July 2.

ksy@koreatimes.co.kr