North and South Korea agreed today to work on reopening a joint industrial zone shut down in April amid soaring military tensions -- and vowed to prevent its closure being repeated.
But they failed to set a precise date for the resumption of operations at the shuttered complex in Kaesong, and the South Korean side sounded a note of caution after the deal was announced.
"This agreement is not an end but only a beginning," its chief negotiator Kim Ki-Woong told reporters.
"What's more important is how both Koreas can implement the agreement ... We can't say for sure when (Kaesong) will actually reopen," Kim added.
Nevertheless, the agreement marked a tangible breakthrough after six previous rounds of talks had ended in mutual recrimination.
It may also help ease tensions before the launch of joint South Korea-US military exercises on Monday which the North has warned could bring the divided peninsula "to the brink of war".
"This is a good sign and it will help the two sides solve other pending issues," said Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korean expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said she hoped the agreement would "set the stage for a fresh start in relations".
The five-point deal committed both sides to "active efforts" to resume normal operations in Kaesong after inspecting the 123 shuttered South Korean factories housed in the complex.
A joint committee will be set up to oversee the process and discuss compensation for any economic losses suffered.
Established in 2004 as a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, Kaesong was a major hard-currency earner for the North, bringing it USD 80 million a year. Pyongyang's decision to shut it down took many observers by surprise.
The project had managed to ride out previous North-South crises without serious disruption, but it eventually fell victim to an extended period of heightened tension following the North's third nuclear test in February.
Pyongyang initially barred access to the park, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) inside the North Korean border, and then withdrew its 53,000-strong workforce from the South's factories.
The six previous rounds of talks had foundered on the South's insistence that North Korea provide a binding guarantee that it would not close the complex again.
