The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea on Sunday agreed in principle to normalize the joint Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ), the official KCNA news agency reported.

An agreement for the normalization of the KIZ was reached early Sunday after around 16 hours of marathon working-level talks held at the Thongil House in the north side of Panmunjom.

The talks discussed issues of decreasing the damage to be done to the south side businesses during the rainy season and normalizing operations in the KIZ, said the KCNA.

According to the agreement, Pyongyang and Seoul agreed to "reactivate" the KIZ and to hold follow-up talks on July 10 at the zone to discuss the way of normalization such as the prevention of recurrence of unilateral shutdown of the industrial park in the future.

Both sides also agreed to allow South Korean businessmen to start inspecting their factories at the industrial park on July 10 and maintain manufacturing facilities to diminish possible damages during the rainy season.

South Korean companies will be allowed to bring back finished products and materials out of the complex.

Pyongyang agreed to guarantee safety of personnel and vehicles of these companies to and from Kaesong.

The KIZ, where factories of 123 South Korean companies are located, has been suspended for nearly three months after Pyongyang banned about 53,000 of its workers from reporting to work in protest at joint South Korean-US annual military drill amid high tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul also withdrew its personnel after the DPRK rejected working-level talks.

The two sides sought to hold their first high-level official talks in six years in June, but the scheduled dialogue was canceled due to dispute over the ranks of chief delegates.