South Korea's unification ministry said Thursday that the country has been in consultations to exempt the joint liaison office with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which the two sides planned to open later this month, from UN sanctions, according to Yonhap news agency report.
An unnamed unification ministry official was quoted as saying the South Korean government "continued to consult" with relevant parties on the exemption of the inter-Korean liaison office from UN sanctions toward Pyongyang.
South Korea and the DPRK agreed to set up the joint liaison office at the DPRK's border town of Kaesong in August.
To operate the liaison office, oil supply would be needed to generate electricity for South Korean officials who stay in the DPRK border town, requiring a waiver over UN sanctions.
Opening the liaison office would be part of efforts to implement the Panmunjom Declaration, which South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un signed after their first summit meeting on April 27 at the border village of Panmunjom.
The inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong has been suspended since the previous South Korean government unilaterally closed it down in February 2016 over Pyongyang's nuclear test in the previous month.
The DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang was exempted earlier from the UN sanctions as the reunion of Korean families separated across the inter-Korean border is scheduled to be held from Aug. 20-26 at the mountain resort.
The inter-Korean tourism project in Mount Kumgang, launched in 1998, had been suspended since a South Korean female tourist was shot dead in July 2008 by a DPRK solider after allegedly venturing into an off-limit area.
