SEOUL – North Korea agreed to help South Korean businessmen retrieve completed products from the closed inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Zone after holding 16-hour talks in Panmunjom on Saturday.

Korea’s monsoon season––which normally starts in mid-July––arrived early this year, causing South Korean businessmen to put pressure on the government in Seoul to work with the North in the securing of products and materials left behind in the inter-Korean complex after its closure in April.

The two sides were unable to reach an agreement for any long-term solution to permanently reopen the economic zone, however, instead opting to tackle ‘normalization’ during a