South Korea said Friday it will push for talks in the coming week with the North over their Kaesong joint industrial zone, after reports Pyongyang has taken fresh steps to unilaterally implement a wage hike.

South Korea said Friday it will push for talks in the coming week with the North over their Kaesong joint industrial zone, after reports Pyongyang has taken fresh steps to unilaterally implement a wage hike.

The North announced last month that it would raise wages of the roughly 54,000 North Korean workers employed in the 125 South Korean firms operating in Kaesong.

South Korea demurred, insisting that employment conditions in the zone could only be adjusted with the agreement of both sides.

"As April 10 is pay day, we are pushing to hold a dialogue before that date," the spokesman for Seoul's Unification Ministry, Lim Byeong-Cheol, told journalists.

"There is no change to our basic position that wages and other pending issues must be resolved through dialogue between relevant authorities," Lim said.

The North's proposal would increase the average monthly sum the South pays for each worker -- including allowances, welfare and overtime -- from $155 to $164.