(LEAD) S. Korea delays announcing stance on firms' request to visit Kaesong complex

(ATTN: REWRITES headline; ADDS more details, background throughout)

SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday put off its plan to deliver to North Korea local company officials' hope to visit a now-shuttered inter-Korean industrial complex, citing the need for more consultations with other government agencies.

The unification ministry had planned to call on North Korea to accept their request on the day during a media briefing.

A group of 40 officials from local firms that had operated at the factory zone just north of the border asked the Seoul government last week to permit a visit to check their factories, amid speculation that the North unilaterally resumed operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

"More time is needed as consultations with other government agencies have yet to be completed," Baik Tae-hyun, ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing. "North Korea should not conduct any act that infringes on South Korean firms' property rights."

North Korea's propaganda outlets recently hinted that North Korea partially restarted operation of the complex without consent.

The previous conservative government of ousted leader Park Geun-hye shut down the factory zone in February 2016 in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.

Seoul needs Pyongyang's documents guaranteeing the safety of its nationals before it gives the green light to their visit.

But North Korea is seen as unlikely to consent to their trip amid the international sanctions regime over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea's propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said Friday that South Korea is not entitled to permit their nationals to visit the industrial complex, which Pyongyang has designated as a military-controlled zone, citing Seoul's support for international sanctions on the North.

In retaliation against Seoul's closure of the complex last year, North Korea kicked out all remaining South Koreans and announced that it would freeze their assets and liquidate them.

The South Korean government said that there are no specific signs the factory zone has been reopened, though some bus movement and lit street lamps have been spotted since March or April.

It said that North Korea should not resume operations at the complex without permission as the factories and machinery belong to South Korean firms.

The factory zone, launched in 2004, had accommodated 124 South Korean firms which employed more than 54,000 North Korean workers to produce labor-intensive goods such as clothes and utensils.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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