The Seoul government has approved its state-run power supplier to provide electricity to the Gaesong Industrial Complex, located north of the inter-Korean border.

The approval comes amid growing calls from Washington for more a prudent approach to providing aid to the communist country, which recently declared that it possesses nuclear weapons and pulled out of the six-party talks.

However, the Seoul government said Thursday that the ongoing inter-Korean project to build a large-scale industrial complex near North Korea's border city of Gaesong will be considered a separate issue from the ongoing nuclear standoff.

South Korea's state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) said on Friday it plans to invest some 51.4 billion won or some 45 million dollars in the project.

KEPCO added that work was underway to complete laying of an eight-kilometer-long power cable linking the North's industrial park to a power station in the South, with electricity likely to be provided by as early as March 5th.