Working-level talks between Seoul and Pyongyang to reopen the Kaesong industrial complex seemed to actually break down, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday.

The report came amid spreading expectations that South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) may fail once again to agree on the jointly operated industrial park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong.

Three-member delegations from both sides ended the sixth round of working-level talks at 5:20 p.m. local time after holding two plenary sessions and other two top-delegate dialogue.

Differences remained over whether to adopt legal and administrative assurances to prevent recurrence of the DPRK's unilateral shutdown of the complex. The joint industrial park has been suspended for over three months after Pyongyang pulled out around 53,000 of its workers in protest against the joint annual military drill between Seoul and Washington.

The DPRK reiterated its call during the morning talks to normalize the joint factory park without mentioning the recurrence prevention, precondition for the normalization strongly requested by Seoul.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2013)