Pyongyang says Kaesong industrial zone's future depends on Seoul

PYONGYANG (Xinhua) - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Sunday that the future of the Kaesong joint industrial zone "depends on the South Korean authority's attitude," the official KCNA news agency reported.

If Seoul really worries about the future of the Kaesong industrial zone, it should stop all its hostile policy and provocative military drills toward Pyongyang, the National Defense Commission (NDC) said in a statement in response to Seoul's proposal Wednesday for dialogues.

The NDC also rebuked the accusation that the DPRK were meant to use the last seven South Koreans in the zone as "hostages," saying it was Seoul's obvious hostile slander toward Pyongyang.

A Spokesman of the South Korean Unification Ministry on Wednesday urged the DPRK to normalize operation of the Kaesong industrial park and emphasized that Seoul keeps its door open for dialogue with Pyongyang.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex, as the last symbol between inter-Korean cooperation, is suffering the most serious crisis since it opened in 2004.