South Korean MPs make rare crossing to North

A group of South Korean lawmakers crossed the fortified border into North Korea Wednesday to visit a jointly run industrial park that recently re-opened after military tensions caused a five-month closure. The rare cross-border trip by the 21 MPs comes as the two Koreas are struggling to build some momentum behind a series of stop-start confidence-building measures. They will visit four of the 100-plus South Korean companies with factories in Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) inside North Korea and was established in 2004 as a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. The lawmakers were joined by officials from the South's Unification Ministry, including Vice Minister Kim Nam-Sik. A ministry official said there "were no plans as yet" for the delegation to meet with North Korean officials in Kaesong. North Korea effectively shut down the complex in April by withdrawing its 53,000-strong workforce during a sharp and extended spike in military tensions that followed the North's third nuclear test in February. The two Koreas agreed last month to resume operations, but talks on reforming the way Kaesong is managed have shown little progress, and the South Korean firms say production is only at 80 percent capacity. "This visit will generate some momentum to help fully reactivate Kaesong and to work out ways to support its development," ruling party MP Ahn Hong-Joon said before the group left Seoul. South Korea is keen to bring in foreign investors, but it recently cancelled a planned investment roadshow, citing a lack of progress in the talks with the North. The re-opening of Kaesong had initially promised to herald a wider thaw in cross-border ties and was followed with an agreement to hold a reunion for family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. But Pyongyang cancelled the event at the last minute, partly in anger at Seoul's reticence about resuming tours to the North's Mount Kumgang resort. "I hope this visit to Kaesong will help resume the family reunions and revive tours to Mount Kumgang and other economic exchanges," said opposition lawmaker Shim Jae-Won.