The stalemate over the suspended industrial park in Gaeseong is expected to continue for some time as neither Seoul nor Pyongyang appears likely to make the first concession.

While leaving open chances of dialogue, the Seoul government has refused to back down given that a soft stance could hamper its efforts to rein in an increasingly provocative North Korea.

For Pyongyang, appearing weak in the face of South Korean pressure could pose a challenge to its young leader Kim Jong-un, who is striving to strengthen the legitimacy of his dynastic rule.

All South Korean workers pulled out of the complex Friday, a month after the North blocked the entry of South Korean people and cargo into the park.

“For the resumption, there would be tough negotiations as Seoul may seek to secure legal, institutional tools to insulate the park from any political or military conflicts,” said Cho Bong-hyun, a senior researcher at the Industrial Bank of Korea.

“After all, the deadlock would be dealt with from a broader perspective, as the two Koreas and other parties seek to resolve an array of issues including Pyongyang’s nuclear development, which would make it harder to focus only on the complex.”

Despite the continuing war of nerves, the two sides have also left room for negotiations over the complex.

After Friday’s pullout, Seoul has not cut its supply of electricity and water to the park. Without the supply, Gaeseong would go dark at night and its residents would run short of water. Seoul has also called on Pyongyang to restore military communication channels.

Pyongyang stressed Sunday that Seoul should first stop “hostile acts and military provocations” should it want to normalize the industrial park and restore bilateral communication.

“If South Korean puppets are concerned about the fate of the industrial park and the bilateral relationship in a state of war, it should first halt hostile acts and military provocations,” said a spokesperson of a policy bureau of the National Defense Commission in an interview carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Criticizing the U.S. for planning to deploy its USS Nimitz aircraft carrier here around May 10, the North also claimed Seoul and Washington had already begun preparing for an expanded annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise slated for August.

The allies plan to hold anti-submarine drills around that time. The drills have been regularly conducted since the North torpedoed the Cheonan corvette in March 2010, killing 46 South Korean sailors.

Depending on the outcome of the summit this week between presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama, a fresh momentum could be forged for the normalization of the complex, observers noted.

“The summit could mark a watershed in the stalemate should the two leaders agree to focus on engaging more with Pyongyang through dialogue,” said professor Yang Moo-jin of University of North Korean Studies.

“But should the joint summit declaration include words indicating that the allies would apply more pressure to the North to change its behavior, the stalemate could continue for some time, and could also lead to a complete shutdown of the park.”

Park left for the U.S. on Sunday for a six-day visit. She will meet Obama on May 7.

Saying that the complex has been “tentatively suspended” rather than being tentatively closed, Seoul has vowed to do its utmost to normalize its operation. In line of this, Seoul was reportedly considering continuing its provision of electricity and industrial water to the park.

A substation in Munsan, Gyeonggi Province, sends electricity to the 100,000-kilowatt Pyeonghwa substation in Gaeseong built by South Korea, which then redistributes the power to the 123 South Korean firms there.

The water purification plant in the complex, which was also built by the South, provides some 21,000 tons of water to the factories as well as residents in the border town.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)