The South Korean news agency Yonhap reports that North Korea appears to be operating a hydroelectric plant by the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Kaesong, in North Korea, was a joint venture between both Koreas, until the South shut it down due to Pyongyang’s aggressive nuclear testing programme.
There is speculation in Seoul that the North has restarted work in the factory park without its former partners in the South.
South Korea’s Unification Minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, said there is no concrete evidence that Kaesong has been reopened, however authorities have noted bus movement and lit street lamps for some months.
Seoul has speculated that the hydroelectric plant could be supplying electricity to the park, so that North Korea can continue to produce goods in the face of punitive economic sanctions.
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The move has further heightened tensions between the two countries as South Korea claims all the factories and machinery belong to its firms.
Seoul has blasted its northern neighbour for using the equipment without permission.
North Korea also risks breaching UN sanctions barring it from exporting its textiles if it tries to ship Kaesong products overseas. The factory complex was a key point for production of clothes and textiles.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex, just inside the demilitarised zone in North Korea, was one of the last remaining points of peaceful North-South relations until it was closed down in 2016.
It was formed so South Korean companies could use North Korean workers to make their products, and would also allow North Korea to reform its economy. 124 South Korean businesses employed more than 54,000 North Korean workers at Kaesong.
It also had a secondary function of helping to ease tensions between the two nations. Both governments were involved in the Complex, which was one of few points of cooperation between the rival states.
However the South Korean government shut the Kaesong Industrial Complex down in February 2016, as relations between the two countries broke down following the North’s first missile launches and nuclear tests.
The North’s decision to start its hydroelectric plant by Kaesong comes as the hermit nation has become increasingly aggressive in recent months.
On Thursday an earthquake was detected near North Korea’s nuclear site, prompting fears Kim Jong-Un’s regime may have tested another bomb.
The earthquake measured 2.9 on the Richter scale and comes after a 6.1-magnitude magnitude quake last month, which Pyongyang claims was the result of hydrogen bomb test.
September’s nuclear test was so strong that it shook buildings in Russia and China and was described as a “perfect success” by North Korea’s state-run media.
All six of North Korea’s previous nuclear tests have caused earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.3 or above, leading to suggestions that today’s quake may have been natural or caused by the collapse of a tunnel.
The international community is continuing to impose sanctions on North Korea in a bid to get the secretive country to give up its nuclear and missile programmes.