S.Korean businessmen visit Kaesong complex for talks on wage row

A group of South Korean businessmen on Friday visited the Kaesong industrial zone in the namesake border city of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to discuss the issue on wage hike for DPRK workers employed by South Korean companies.

The group, composed of around 10 South Korean businessmen running factories in the inter-Korean factory park, crossed the land border through the inter-Korean transit office at the Gyeongui Line and headed for Kaesong at about 9:30 a.m. local time (0030 GMT), a Unification Ministry official said by phone.

The businessmen would meet DPRK officials from the General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone, Pyongyang's management committee of the industrial zone, there to talk about the payment of the increased wage for DPRK workers.

The Kaesong wage row came after the DPRK revised labor regulations in November 2014 without consulting with South Korea and unilaterally notified the South Korea of its decision in late February.

Under the revision, the DPRK raised minimum wages for workers in Kaesong from 70.35 U.S. dollars to 74 dollars, topping the growth ceiling of 5 percent agreed upon by an inter-Korean agreement.

South Korea has called for the wage hike to be discussed through an inter-governmental dialogue, but the DPRK has claimed that it was a matter of internal affairs in which the South Korea cannot intervene.

The DPRK abruptly cancelled its earlier approval Wednesday of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's trip to the Kaesong complex, which was previously set for Thursday. Ban said Pyongyang notified him of the cancellation without any explanations.

Pyongyang recently raised tensions by test-launching a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), staging live-fire drills in the disputed sea border and threatening its capability of miniaturizing nuclear warheads that can be mounted onto ballistic missiles. Endi