Koreas in industrial zone talks Rescued at sea: Three North Koreans return home. North and South Korea have started rare talks on reopening a jointly run industrial zone, seen as the last remaining symbol of cross-border reconciliation. Both Koreas say they want to reopen the Seoul-funded industrial zone on the North Korean side of the border but each blames the other for its suspension. North Korea, citing military tensions and the South's hostility towards the North, withdrew its 53,000 workers from the 123 Seoul-owned factories in April. Seoul is expected to call for a written guarantee aimed at preventing a recurrence of the unilateral shutdown of Kaesong, a demand that the North could find hard to accept as it would amount to Pyongyang swallowing its pride and accepting full responsibility for the suspension. South Korea's Unification Ministry said the two sides began the working-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarised zone. They agreed to discuss retrieving products that the South Korean managers left behind at the industrial complex in North Korea and inspecting the facilities. They will also discuss restarting work. The park, which brought together North Korean labour and South Korean capital, resulted in nearly $US2 billion a year in cross-border trade. It was the last remaining joint project between the two Koreas as relations soured over the past five years. The closure meant a loss of salary for tens of thousands of North Koreans employed in factories run by South Korean companies, and a loss of goods and orders for business managers who relied on Kaesong to churn out everything from shoes and watches to cables and electrical components.