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Seoul staff refused access to Kaesong

North Korea blocked two South Korean officials from entering the jointly run Kaesong factory park yesterday over what it called a conflict between the management committees overseeing the complex.

A South Korean Unification Ministry official said that it was unclear why North Korea had acted in this way.

South Korean employees of the factories are commuting normally across the border, the official said.

One of the officials prevented from entering Kaesong is the vice-chairman of Seoul’s management committee, who has been involved in negotiations over wages, taxes and fees.

The two states struggled for several months over wage levels for North Korean workers employed by the South Korean companies at Kaesong before agreeing on a 5 per cent increase in minimum wages in August.

The ministry official said that the two sides were currently negotiating the land usage fees that South Korean companies at Kaesong must pay to North Korea for 2015.

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