Although a re-opening date has not been set, the Kaesong Industrial Park will re-open after North and South Korea came to an agreement on the joint venture.

According to South Korea, the re-opening of the complex will take place after South Korean companies can complete maintenance checks of the facilities.

During the seventh round of talks that have taken place in recent months, the two countries made a joint statement pledging to resume operations free of political considerations and a promotion of investment from third party countries in the zone. Their agreement also calls for Internet and phone access to be installed at the complex.

A joint committee will be formed to determine the compensation for the losses suffered by the companies for the shutdown four months ago.

It was amid tensions concerning nuclear and missile tests on the part of North Korea, as well as joint training by the U.S. and South Korea, that led to the North pulling out its 53,000 workers from the approximately 100 factories in the Kaesong Industrial Zone.

The Kaesong Complex, on the site of the old North Korean capital, was opened in 2004 and is a major source of funds for the north. The complex is the only joint venture between the two countries that remain technically at war after a three-year conflict that took place from June 1950 until July, 1953. The conflict ended after an armistice was proposed by India. Although the two countries ceased military operations at this point, the two countries never signed a peace agreement to end the war.

North Korea has always asserted that they won the conflict.