S.Korea offers talks with DPRK on Kaesong complex

South Korea on Friday offered to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea holding a dialogue on the Kaesong Industrial complex after Pyongyang's unilateral decision to raise wages for workers.

Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing that the ministry proposed to the DPRK holding talks on March 13 about the management of the inter-Korean factory park in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong.

The spokesman said that if Pyongyang has a willingness to advance the joint industrial zone, it must stop making a unilateral decision and resolve issues of mutual interest through inter-governmental consultations.

His comments came a day after the DPRK notified South Korea of its unilateral decision to raise minimum wage for DPRK workers employed by South Korean companies at the Kaesong industrial complex.

Under the decision, the minimum wage would rise from 70.35 U.S. dollars per month to 74 dollars, representing a 5.18 percent increase. An average monthly wage for DPRK workers in the Kaesong industrial zone is expected to total 164.1 dollars, up 5.53 percent from the current 155.5 dollars.

Lim repeated the country's stance that South Korea cannot accept the wage hike decision as it violated the inter-Korean agreement on the management of the industrial zone, urging Pyongyang to come to the dialogue table to resolve the issue. Endite