An association for South Korean firms operating in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea has urged Seoul and Pyongyang to swiftly hold talks on the wages of the employees at the complex.
 
The group's call comes after North Korea revised a labor regulation and removed the legal limit for wage raises at the inter-Korean factory park.
 
Vice Chairman Yoo Chang-geun of the Corporate Association of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex said Wednesday that the refusal by South Korean firms to raise wages for North Korean workers is not to exploit them.
 
He stressed that if the North goes about unilaterally revising rules without prior consultation among related parties of labor, management and government, it will leave an undesirable precedent.
 
He also called for the governments of both Koreas to swiftly engage in dialogue over the wage issue so that the operation at the factory park will become stable. 
 
On Saturday, the North's propaganda Web site Uriminzokkiri said the Supreme People's Assembly revised a dozen provisions in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex labor regulations on November 20.
 
The revisions call for a monthly minimum wage of 50 dollars, scrapping a five-percent cap on the annual minimum wage growth and allowing North Korean authorities to raise wages. 
 
More than 120 South Korean firms operate at the Gaeseong complex located just north of the inter-Korean border.