The Republic of Korea said on Tuesday it had blocked a bid from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the right to detain ROK businessmen working in the Kaesong joint industrial zone in the event of a dispute.

The Kaesong complex, which lies about 10 kilometers inside the DPRK, hosts some 100 Seoul-owned factories where 53,000 DPRK workers produce goods from clothes to watches.

Hundreds of ROK managers also work in the complex, established in 2004 as a symbol of cooperation between the two neighboring countries.