SEOUL: About 10 North Koreans are believed to have been killed in a traffic accident at a South Korean-funded joint industrial estate just north of the border, a report said Wednesday.

The accident happened last Friday evening when a bus carrying homebound North Korean workers at Kaesong crashed into another bus at a crossroads in heavy rain, Yonhap news agency said.

The agency, citing an unidentified police official at South Korea`s Paju city near the border, said around 10 North Koreans were killed and 40 injured. No South Koreans were hurt.

The South`s unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, confirmed the July 2 accident but it said it had no details. Police in Paju told AFP they could not confirm the Yonhap report.

Kaesong is the last joint reconciliation project still operating, after relations worsened in recent years between the two Koreas.

About 44,000 North Koreans work for more than 120 South Korean companies producing goods such as textiles, footwear, watches and kitchenware.

The North has intermittently restricted cross-border access to Kaesong during times of tension, but the number of its workers there has been growing in recent months.



BDST: 0918 HRS, July 7, 2010