South and North Korea Monday began talks on ways to improve their joint factory park in the North amid rising tension triggered by North Korea's artillery fire last week in the West Sea.
The South Korean delegation, led by Kim Young-tak, met with its North Korean counterpart at an inter-Korean office for economic cooperation in the border town of Gaeseong, the Unification Ministry said.
The one-day talks at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex come after North Korea conducted provocative artillery drills along the tense western sea border with South Korea for three days last week. The North fired hundreds of shells into waters north of the United Nations Command-drawn Northern Limit Line that has served as a de facto sea border since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
South Korea responded with warning shots Wednesday, the first day of the North's shooting, fueling tension that already ran high after Pyongyang threatened an attack over contingency plans Seoul had reportedly prepared in case of regime collapse in its neighbor.
This week's talks in Gaeseong are the second this year focusing on ways to boost the competitiveness of the park, which symbolizes reconciliation efforts made in the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. Some 110 South Korean manufacturers employ about 42,000 North Korean workers at the complex to produce labor-intensive products.
The two Koreas met for three days in Gaeseong last month, but failed to reach an agreement as the South refused to accept North Korea's demand that pay raises be discussed during the meetings.