South Korea started first test operation of a shuttle bus across the sealed inter-Korean border on Monday, the South Korean national news agency Yonhap quoted officials at the Hyundai Asan Co. as saying.

The bus carrying South Korean workers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s city of Kaesong, where local businesses are building a huge industrial complex, is expected to return later Monday, Yonhap said.

Hyundai Asan, a key developer of the industrial park, said they will operate a full shuttle bus service linking Seoul and Kaesong every weekday later this year after two months of test operations.

The industrial complex, being built by Hyundai Asan and the state-run (South) Korea Land Corp. in Kaesong, is one of the most prominent symbols of inter-Korean reconciliation set in motion by the first-ever summit of the leaders of the two countries in 2000.

The complex, only a few kilometers from the inter-Korean border,is to be used by hundreds of South Korean garment and other labor-intensive companies, which want to relocate facilities there to use cheap but skilled DPRK labor.

The industrial park will be partially opened later this year. Fifteen South Korean companies are scheduled to move into the pilot complex and begin producing goods by the end of the year.

Source: Xinhua