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SEOUL: North and South Korea were set on Tuesday to hold their first official talks in a year, but analysts were downbeat about the outcome because of rising cross-border and regional tensions.
A team headed by an official from Seoul's unification ministry crossed the heavily fortified border at around 8.35 am (2335 GMT Monday) for the meeting at a joint industrial estate just north of the frontier.
Pyongyang, which has bitterly attacked Seoul's conservative government for over a year, said last week it has an "important notice" to announce about the Kaesong estate – the last major inter-Korean co-operation project.
Tuesday's meeting comes amid icy cross-border relations and threats from Pyongyang's military.
"The Lee group of traitors should never forget that Seoul is just 50 kilometres (31 miles) away" from the border, the North's military spokesman said on Saturday, suggesting the city is vulnerable to attack.
The North is furious with President Lee Myung-Bak, who has abandoned a policy of providing almost unconditional aid to the communist state.
Regional tensions are also rising after the North's purported satellite launch on April 5, widely seen overseas as a disguised missile test.
The North, angry at UN censure of the launch, has announced it is quitting nuclear disarmament talks and restarting its atomic weapons programme. It has expelled US and UN nuclear inspectors.
Following the launch South Korea announced it would push ahead with plans to join a US-led initiative against shipments of weapons of mass destruction.
The North says any move by its neighbour to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) would be seen as a declaration of war.
In another complication, the North has for over three weeks been holding a South Korean worker at Kaesong. It accuses him of criticising the North's communist regime and trying to persuade a local woman worker to defect.
Analysts believe the North will try to force the South to choose between PSI and the future of Kaesong, using the detainee as a bargaining chip.
Cho Bong-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with South Korean bank IBK, said the North will likely charge the detainee to raise tension and may even demand that all South Korean workers quit the joint venture.
"Chances are they will be saying, 'These are the results of our investigation, and the crime is so grave he has to be tried here'," Cho told Yonhap news agency, citing sources involved in Kaesong.
"There could be a further warning, such as ordering all South Korean workers to leave the complex unless Seoul makes a big compromise."
North Korea is also separately holding two female American journalists who were detained near its border with China on March 17. It says it will put them on trial for illegally entering the country and committing "hostile acts".
Kaesong opened in 2005 as a symbol of reconciliation but its operations have often been hit by political tensions.
In December, the North restricted border crossings and expelled hundreds of South Korean managers from the zone.
Some 38,300 North Koreans work at 101 South Korean firms, producing items such as garments, kitchenware and watches.
The Seoul government and South Korean businesses have invested 730 billion won (548 million dollars) into the venture since its construction began in 2002.
The North Korean government received 26 million dollars from South Korean firms last year in wage payments, according to unification ministry data.
- AFP/so
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