Seoul has again denied South Korean company officials from visiting their factories at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea.

Roughly 200 officials gathered Thursday morning in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, but Seoul's approval never came and their hopes were dashed to make the journey North at 10 a.m.

The officials initially planned to march to the National Assembly in protest and call for the swift normalization of operations at the inter-Korean joint venture. However, they backed down after police said the march was illegal.

An official of a South Korean company with a factory in Gaeseong said companies are worried about the condition of their equipment and facilities ahead of the annual summer rainy season.

He called on the governments of the two Koreas to get the industrial complex back up and running, noting the companies’ financial losses.