Officials from North and South Korea met for talks over the troubled Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea. The factory park employs workers from both the North and the South, and is a rare source of revenue for Pyongyang.

Previous rounds of talks between the two Koreas over Kaesong industrial complex have hit snags over money.

North Korea also refused to meet South Korea’s demands to release a South Korean worker held at the park for supposedly insulting the North's communist system.

[Kim Young-tak, South Korean Chief Delegate]:
"We're planning to hold a practical meeting, which is solving matters step by step starting from agreeable ones."

North Korea has demanded wages of $300 a month per person for about 40,000 North Koreans employed in Kaesong, up from about the $70 they are currently paid.

The North has also demanded a lease of $500 million over 50 years.

This would be an increase of more than 30 times the current lease.

Kim says the release of the detained worker will have top priority at the meeting.

[Kim Young-tak, South Korean Chief Delegate]:
"As you know well, our worker has been detained over 90 days, so today we will take this matter as a priority and strongly urge the North to solve this problem."

The meeting will be held against a background of possible military posturing by the North.

A South Korean presidential aide said last week that the North may be pushing ahead with missile tests yet again.