Ruling and opposition party lawmakers of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and unification visited the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea on Wednesday as part of parliamentary inspections.
 
Committee chairman Rep. Ahn Hong-joon held a news conference at the Dorasan Inter-Korea Transit Office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on his return to Seoul. 
 
Ahn said the two Koreas must work together for the constructive normalization of the factory park and pledged to communicate with South Korean businesses there to resolve pending issues.
 
About 40 South Korean officials, including 21 out of the 24 members of the committee and a deputy unification minister, entered the industrial park around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday through the transit office. The South Korean lawmakers and officials are said to have been greeted by six North Korean officials.

The legislators visited four South Korean firms that produce clothes, underwear, shoes and cell phone parts. They also inspected the factory park's infrastructure later in the afternoon.
 
The lawmakers also had a luncheon with representatives of South Korean businesses stationed at the complex and pledged bipartisan efforts for stable operations of the park regardless of ups and downs in inter-Korean relations. 
 
The lawmakers’ visit is the first since the launch of the Park Geun-hye government and the first to be held as part of parliamentary inspections.
 
Main opposition Democratic Party Chairman Kim Han-gil and ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker Lee Byung-suk were unable to join due to Wednesday’s by-elections. Saenuri Rep. Cho Myung-chul, a North Korean escapee-turned South Korean lawmaker, was denied entry to North Korea by Pyongyang.