Koreas fail to meet, new border entry system delayed

South and North Korea have failed to hold a regular meeting on a jointly run factory park in the North, an official said Tuesday, a move that delays the official launch of a new system meant to facilitate South Koreans' access to the park. The two sides agreed to hold a meeting of the joint management committee in each quarter to discuss issues of the factory park in the North's western border city of Kaesong. But the North has shown a lukewarm response to Seoul's call for a meeting, the official of the unification ministry said. The development has kept the two Koreas from officially initiating a new border entry system for hundreds of South Korean factory managers. In January, the rival Koreas carried out a test-run of the radio frequency identification system that could help facilitate travel to and from the factory park. The system would allow South Korean factory managers to visit the park and return home at any time on days they are permitted to cross the border, according to the ministry. Currently, South Korea has to fax a list of names the day before they travel to the North, which would then allow those on the list to cross the border only during a designated time. Any trip to the North requires the Seoul government's approval as well as the North's consent. The sides still technically remain in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The sprawling capitalist enclave, the last-remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation, is home to 120 small South Korean plants that produce garments and other labor-intensive goods. More than 44,600 North Koreans work in the complex. The head of a Russian firm held discussions with South Korea in February on how to set up a factory in the inter-Korean complex, the unification ministry said. South Korea has been pushing to invite foreign investment in the factory park, believing the presence of foreign companies could help deter North Korea from unilaterally closing it. North Korea shut down the factory park in April last year in anger over South Korea-U.S. joint annual military exercises, which Pyongyang condemns as a rehearsal for invasion. Still, Pyongyang later pledged not to shutter the park again "under any circumstances" and reopened it in September.