North Korea has proposed that South Korean firms operating in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex increase monthly wages for North Korean workers by five percent this year.

The proposal indicates that the North has apparently given up its June demand that South Korean firms raise wages for its workers by four times to 300 U.S. dollars.

Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said the North's Central Guidance Bureau for Special Zone Development sent the South on Thursday a proposal for a five-percent wage increase.

If the proposal is accepted, wages for North Korean workers in the park will jump by about three dollars a month until July of next year.

But the spokeswoman said Seoul is waiting to see whether Pyongyang has really completely withdrawn its previous demand.