S. Korea, DPRK hold another round of working-level talks: gov't

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have begun another round of working-level talks on improving operations of their joint industrial park in the border town of Kaesong, the government said Wednesday.

In another round of discussion on Wednesday, the second day of the two-day meeting between the two Koreas, working-level officials from South Korea and the DPRK are scheduled to have discussions on ways to improve operations at the Kaesong industrial park based on the results of the joint industrial survey conducted in China and Vietnam last year, South Korea's unification ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.

In the first round of meeting on Tuesday, which was held for more than three hours, the two sides positively evaluated their joint industrial survey, Chun told reporters in a briefing.

The South Korean delegation will cross the border to return to South Korea later Wednesday when the head of the delegation is expected to brief reporters on the outcome of the first official meeting between the two Koreas this year, he added.

The first bilateral meeting this year has helped clear doubts that threats Pyongyang issued against Seoul last week might dampen the budding mood for dialogue, local media have reported.

The industrial park, which is under the joint management of the two Koreas, has been one of the key symbols of economic cooperation between the two countries, though worsening ties between the two have occasionally put operations there in danger.

Currently, some 110 South Korean companies are based in the complex, employing about 42,000 workers from the DPRK mostly producing labor-intensive goods.