SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday virtually turned down a South Korean proposal for talks to return raw materials and finished products from a suspended inter-Korean industrial complex to South Korea, criticizing the proposal as a "cunning tactic" to evade domestic criticism over the complex's halt and mislead public opinion.
"We (North Korea) remind (the South) again that the future of the Kaesong complex and inter-Korean relations are dependent wholly on the South Korean authorities' attitude," an unidentified spokesperson of the North's General Bureau for the Special Zone Development Guidance said in an interview with the (North) Korean Central News Agency. The bureau overseas the industrial complex, located in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.
Should the South have the real intention of normalizing the Kaesong complex, it should seek to resolve "fundamental issues" first, and stop provocative remarks and acts against the North, the spokesperson said. However, the spokesperson did not specify what the fundamental issues are.
The remark is a response to a Tuesday proposal by the South Korea's Ministry of Unification under the instruction of South Korean President Park Geun-hye to hold working-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom to alleviate the ongoing plight of the 123 South Korean companies that have been forced out of the complex.
