North Korea still appears to be operating facilities at a now-shuttered joint industrial complex in Pyongyang’s border city of Kaesong despite Seoul’s repeated warnings against the unauthorised move, the South Korean Unification Ministry said on Thursday.
The Ministry has “continuously” detected signs of the North illegally running facilities in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, Yonhap News Agency quoted an official as saying.
Such signs include buses entering the factory zone and lights turned on at the site at night.
On whether the government plans to take legal measures against such a move, the official said the Ministry is reviewing “various measures”, without further elaboration.
The remarks came a day after Seoul lodged a symbolic damages suit against the North over its demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong.
On June 16, 2020, the North blew up the joint office in protest against Seoul’s failure to stop North Korean defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.
The government sought 44.7 billion won ($35 million) as compensation for losses incurred in the South’s state assets and stressed that it will continue to hold Pyongyang responsible for any infringement of property rights.
The official, however, said that Seoul respects and remains committed to previous administrations’ efforts for reconciliation in inter-Korean relations, referring to the anniversary of the June 15 Declaration adopted at a historic summit in 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.