SEOUL - NORTH Korea on Friday accused the South of pushing talks on a joint industrial estate, their last major joint business project, to the point of collapse.

Talks have been pushed 'to the phase of breakdown due to the insincere attitude on the part of the South Korean authorities,' a spokesman for the North's office in charge of the industrial park said in a statement.

The warning came a week after the two sides failed to reach agreement in talks about the future of the Kaesong estate just north of the border or even to decide on a date for the next round of negotiations.

At previous talks South Korea rejected the North's demands for huge wage and rent increases at the estate.

It also insisted on the immediate release of a South Korean worker who has been held incommunicado by the North since March 30.

Kaesong, which opened in December 2004, is the last operating reconciliation project between communist North and capitalist South.

Its future has become increasingly uncertain as inter-Korean relations have worsened and as the North's nuclear standoff with the world has intensified. -- AFP