Anchor: Following North Korea’s demand to raise wages at the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex, fees South Korean companies must pay for the use of land in the factory park are expected to cause further dispute. North Korea has requested a meeting with the South to negotiate the fees which were waived for ten years in a 2004 agreement.
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: It has been confirmed North Korea requested a meeting with South Korea to discuss land-use fees for companies operating in the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
 
The Ministry of Unification said Thursday that an official from the North's Central Special Zone Development Guidance General Bureau visited the South's Gaeseong Industrial District Management Committee last November to propose the meeting. 
 
The North Korean official is said to have suggested an annual fee of one euro per square meter of land.
 
The two Koreas agreed in 2004 to waive land-use fees for companies operating in the complex for the first ten years. Starting this year, companies will be charged with the land-use fee.
 
A unification ministry official said the two sides decided to determine the specific criteria and amount of the fees through mutual discussion. The official added that South and North Korea must review foreign examples and the initial cost of leasing the land at the site of the complex, before making a decision.
 
North Korea had demanded a land-use fee of five to ten dollars per three-point-three square meters of land annually at working-level talks in 2009, but the proposal was rejected by Seoul.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.