Rivals North and South Korea agreed on Wednesday (August 14) to restart their troubled joint industrial park after a series of talks on the fate of the last symbol of economic cooperation, raising hopes of possible improvement in political ties.

A joint statement said the two sides had agreed to work together to get the Kaesong industrial zone, inside North Korea and just a few miles from the heavily armed border, up and running again and prevent another shutdown.

The two sides did not give a date for when the factory would reopen.

North Korea pulled its 53,000 workers out of the park at the height of tensions between the two sides in April, with the North threatening the United States and the South with nuclear attack.

Since it opened in 2004, the Kaesong complex has generated roughly $90 million annually in wages paid directly to the North's state agency that manages the zone.

Last week, North Korea said it would reopen the industrial zone just minutes after South Korea signalled it was willing to let it close for good.

The reopening of Kaesong is seen as addressing the political interests of the democratic South and the economic interests of the North.

Presented by Adam Justice