North, South Korea Hold Talks on Cooperation in Light Industry Sector

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) – South and North Korea on Thursday started a new round of working-level talks to discuss ways to cooperate in light industry and natural resource exploration, the Unification Ministry said.

The two-day talks in the North Korean border city of Kaesong [Kaeso'ng] come about a week after the latest round of inter-Korean ministerial talks ended without tangible results.

In April, South Korea agreed to supply raw materials worth US$80 million to the North in June to help revive its sagging light industry in return for the North’s natural resources.

In the agreement, a shipment of 400,000 tons of rice was to be sent to the North late last month in the form of a loan. But the South is withholding the promised rice aid until the North shuts down its main nuclear reactor under a February nuclear deal.

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