South and North Korea reopened the Kaesong industrial complex on Monday morning after it was suspended for five months amid political tensions and threats of war in the peninsula, the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported.

More than half of the 123 South Korean companies in the complex are expected to start trial runs and workers from the North side have been requested to return to work, Yonhap quoted the South's Unification Ministry as saying.

A total of 820 South Korean managers and workers are expected to cross the border into Kaesong on Monday, over 400 of whom will stay overnight to oversee production operations there, the ministry said.

The Kaesong park, a rare symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement, was restarted amid a thaw in ties after the two Koreas hold marathon talks.

Seoul and Pyongyang on Wednesday agreed to fully reopen the joint factory park in the North after agreeing on several institutional tools.

Meanwhile, the two parties kicked off the third round of joint management committee negotiations. The joint committee, which will be in charge of running the factory park, will give Seoul an equal say on the zone, which had been managed solely by Pyongyang in the past.

The two sides agreed to adopt an electronic system to control the passage of South Korean personnel to and from Kaesong through radio frequency identification technology. They also agreed to continue to discuss details on the introduction of mobile phones and the Internet in the factory park.

North's KCNA News Agency hailed the reopening. "The Korean Peninsula's peace and peaceful reunification is our republic's consistent and firm stance," it said.

Global Times - Agencies