SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unification ministry on Tuesday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) not to violate property rights owned by South Korean companies which had operated factories in the currently closed inter-Korean industrial complex.
An unnamed unification ministry official was quoted by local media as saying that the DPRK should not infringe on the ownership rights of South Korean companies in the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
The official noted that the ownership of factories and facilities inside the inter-Korean factory zone belongs to South Korean companies.
The inter-Korean industrial park in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong was unilaterally closed down by the previous Park Geun-hye government of South Korea following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January last year.
The factory zone, launched in 2004, had housed more than 120 South Korean companies hiring over 54,000 DPRK workers before the shutdown.
In response to the unilateral closure, the DPRK kicked out all remaining South Korean people there and announced the freeze and liquidation of all assets inside the zone.
The South Korean official was quoted as saying the unauthorized use of facilities inside the Kaesong industrial park would be in violation of the inter-Korean agreement on investment.
The official said some relevant moves were detected inside the zone, including the illuminated street lamps and the intermittent transportation by buses, but he noted that any concrete moves had yet to be spotted such as the real resumption of factory operations.
According to local media reports, the DPRK's propaganda media reported last week that factories in Kaesong would be run more actively, indicating the resumption of the inter-Korean factory park's operation.