Seoul calls on Pyongyang to come to dialogue table

South Korea on Thursday called on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to come to the dialogue table to resolve the political deadlock with its northern neighbor.

"The suspension in operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a symbol of the inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, is an act that does not do any good to our nation's future," Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said in a formal statement.

Ryoo said that "the normalization of the Kaesong complex should be made through dialogue," urging Pyongyang to "come to the dialogue table to discuss what the North (DPRK) wants."

Asked whether the statement is a formal proposal for dialogue with Pyongyang, Ryoo told reporters that it would be a declaration to make certain that "all the problems, including the Kaesong Industrial Complex problem and the escalating threats by North Korea, should be resolved through dialogue" rather than the government's formal suggestion for dialogue.

Ryoo strongly urged Pyongyang to stop heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula, expressing his regrets over the DPRK's repeated provocative threats.

His comments came amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. A spokesman of the DPRK's General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone told the official Korea Central News Agency that the Kaesong industrial zone may cease to exist if the South Korean authority continues its confrontation policy.

The industrial zone, established under an agreement reached at the unprecedented inter-Korean summit in 2000, stopped operations from Tuesday as around 53,000 DPRK workers failed to report to work following the DPRK's announcement of withdrawal of all its workers from the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.

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