South Korea is requesting rare talks with North Korea over the fate of a joint industrial park that has become a focal point of friction between the rival states, an official said on Friday. North Korea, stung by tightened trade sanctions in response to its rocket launch in April and decision to back away from a nuclear disarmament-for-aid deal, has been looking to obtain more money from South Korean companies at the park, which is the last major economic tie between the Koreas. "We will send a proposal to the North ... asking for a meeting with us early next week," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters. The two Koreas held their first economic talks in more than a year in April at the Kaesong Industrial Park, where scores of South Korean firms use cheap North Korean labour and land to make goods at the complex just north of their border. North Korea said it wanted to revise the terms of operation to increase the wages for its more than 30,000 workers at Kaesong, whose basic minimum monthly salary of $70 is paid to the North Korean state, and renegotiate land lease terms.
