S. Korea sends workers to N. Korea to repair liaison office facilities

A group of South Korean officials and civilians left for North Korea's border town of Kaesong Monday to carry out repair work on facilities to be used for an inter-Korean liaison office, the unification ministry said.

The 26-member team departed for Kaesong early in the day by using the western land border, according to the ministry.

The move came after recent on-site inspections for candidate facilities for the liaison office found that some require repair to accommodate the liaison office and relevant staff.

The two Koreas' leaders agreed to launch a liaison office during their summit in April to facilitate communication. The Seoul government plans to open it before the end of August.

(Yonhap)

Their repair works will likely focus on facilities, including those for housing the people to be sent for the operation of the liaison office.

The facilities in Kaesong have not been used since South Korea pulled out its people from an inter-Korean industrial complex in February 2016 in the wake of the North's nuclear and missile provocations.

The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)