Tensions are escalating between the two Koreas over the minimum wage at an inter-Korean factory park in North Korea.
 
In a regular briefing Friday, Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said it's regrettable that the North has not responded to the South's proposal for talks on the wage and other Gaeseong complex matters. 
 
The spokesman then stressed that the government will sternly respond to North Korea's unilateral alterations of regulations relating to the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex. He also expressed regret that Pyongyang disregarded inter-Korean agreements and failed to respond to the proposed talks.
 
On Thursday, a spokesman for the North's Central Special Development Guidance Bureau, which oversees the Gaeseong park, said that revision of the Gaeseong complex labor regulations was a legitimate exercise of its rights. 
 
Last November, North Korea unilaterally revised 13 labor provisions governing the Gaeseong complex including removing the cap on minimum wage increases. It also notified Seoul last month that it will raise the minimum wage for its workers at the joint venture from 70 dollars and 35 cents to 74 dollars a month starting this month.