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| South Korea Proposes Meeting With North | South Korea Proposes Meeting With North |
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| SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea proposed on Tuesday to hold a border meeting with North Korea to discuss bringing finished goods and raw materials from an industrial park that the two countries jointly operated until last month. | SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea proposed on Tuesday to hold a border meeting with North Korea to discuss bringing finished goods and raw materials from an industrial park that the two countries jointly operated until last month. |
| The Kaesong Industrial Complex has been idle since North Korea withdrew all its 53,000 workers, accusing the United States and South Korea of plotting to invade the North. South Korea pulled out the last of its citizens from Kaesong on May 3, severing the last economic ties between the Koreas. | The Kaesong Industrial Complex has been idle since North Korea withdrew all its 53,000 workers, accusing the United States and South Korea of plotting to invade the North. South Korea pulled out the last of its citizens from Kaesong on May 3, severing the last economic ties between the Koreas. |
| Neither the North nor the South has officially closed the eight-year-old complex, the best-known symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. But its fate has become a test for inter-Korean relations. | Neither the North nor the South has officially closed the eight-year-old complex, the best-known symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. But its fate has become a test for inter-Korean relations. |
| President Park Geun-hye insisted that South Korea would not reward the North’s bad behavior over Kaesong with compromises. But she said she was open to dialogue with North Korea to “build trust.” | President Park Geun-hye insisted that South Korea would not reward the North’s bad behavior over Kaesong with compromises. But she said she was open to dialogue with North Korea to “build trust.” |
| As a token of good faith, she said North Korea should allow South Korean factory owners to return to Kaesong in order to ship out millions of dollars’ worth of finished goods stranded there. | As a token of good faith, she said North Korea should allow South Korean factory owners to return to Kaesong in order to ship out millions of dollars’ worth of finished goods stranded there. |
| “We call for a positive response from the North,” Kim Hyung-suk, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry, said in a statement. | |
| There was no immediate reaction from the North. It has rejected the South’s two previous offers of dialogue over the fate of the Kaesong complex. It has indicated that it is willing to sacrifice the complex, and $90 million in badly needed hard currency that its workers earn annually, to show its anger at South Korea’s policy toward the North. | There was no immediate reaction from the North. It has rejected the South’s two previous offers of dialogue over the fate of the Kaesong complex. It has indicated that it is willing to sacrifice the complex, and $90 million in badly needed hard currency that its workers earn annually, to show its anger at South Korea’s policy toward the North. |
| The industrial park, where 123 South Korean factories had hired low-cost North Korean labor, was originally conceived as an experiment that its supporters hoped would help advance the economic integration — and eventual reunification — of the two Koreas. | The industrial park, where 123 South Korean factories had hired low-cost North Korean labor, was originally conceived as an experiment that its supporters hoped would help advance the economic integration — and eventual reunification — of the two Koreas. |
| Ms. Park said on Tuesday that South Korea wanted to reopen Kaesong. But she said North Korea must first promise broad changes in the complex to make it globally competitive and must guarantee that it would not use the economic project as a political bargaining chip again. | Ms. Park said on Tuesday that South Korea wanted to reopen Kaesong. But she said North Korea must first promise broad changes in the complex to make it globally competitive and must guarantee that it would not use the economic project as a political bargaining chip again. |
| Meanwhile, Glyn T. Davies, the top American envoy on North Korea, met with South Korean officials in Seoul. He said the United States and its allies wanted the North to get “back on the path of denuclearization by taking concrete steps to demonstrate that they have obligations.” | Meanwhile, Glyn T. Davies, the top American envoy on North Korea, met with South Korean officials in Seoul. He said the United States and its allies wanted the North to get “back on the path of denuclearization by taking concrete steps to demonstrate that they have obligations.” |
| The United Nations Security Council has tightened sanctions on North Korea for its rocket and nuclear tests. The North said it was abandoning its commitments to denuclearization. | The United Nations Security Council has tightened sanctions on North Korea for its rocket and nuclear tests. The North said it was abandoning its commitments to denuclearization. |