An inter-Korean economic cooperation office will open in the North Korean border city of Gaesong and begin operations on Friday.

The Unification Ministry announced Thursday that Rep. Lim Chae-jung of the parliamentary committee on unification, foreign affairs and trade, vice chairman of the North’s democratic economic cooperation, Kim Seong-il, and some 280 people from the two Koreas would attend the office's opening ceremony at the Gaesong Industrial Complex.

The new office will house twenty-four permanent staff members - 14 from the South and 10 from the North - who will hold weekly meetings to discuss inter-Korean economic cooperation.

Seoul's vice unification minister, Lee Bong-jo, said that the permanent channel for economic cooperation would encourage bilateral trade and investment.

He stressed that the new office represents a step forward in the history of inter-Korean economic cooperation.

Seoul and Pyongyang will hold the 11th joint economic cooperation committee meeting in the office on its inaugural day.