Signs of movement detected at Kaesong Industrial Complex: ministry

This photo, taken from the South Korean border city of Paju, Nov. 24, 2021, shows North Korea's Kaesong city across the border. Yonhap

South Korea has asked North Korea to provide an explanation over signs of movement detected at the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex but has received no response yet, the unification ministry said Monday.

Earlier, a local newspaper, citing multiple sources, reported that the North has unilaterally resumed operations at some of the facilities in the North's border city of Kaesong, saying that such movement is what appears to have caused a fire there last month.

"We have recently detected signs of movement of an unidentified vehicle within the Kaesong Industrial Complex," Cha Deok-cheol, the ministry's acting spokesperson, told a regular press briefing.

The ministry has requested the North's explanation regarding the latest movement but has not received any response, he added.

He stressed that all issues related to the Kaesong complex must be solved in consensus with the South.

The latest signs come after the fire was detected on April 21 at the industrial complex, which was shut down in 2016 in response to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests. (Yonhap)