North Korea has asked South Korea to take measures to block the cross-border spread of a viral respiratory illness that has killed 16 people in the South in recent weeks, the Unification Ministry said Monday.

The communist North is concerned about the possibility of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome spilling over into its territory through the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a major joint venture with South Korea.

The North's organ in charge of operating the site, located just north of the inter-Korean border, sent a fax message to the South Korean government last week, according to ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol.

"The North's Central Special Development Guidance Bureau requested (the South) to curb the entry of those who recently visited the Middle East or traveled to areas with an outbreak of MERS," Lim said at a press briefing.

The bureau also called for data and other materials on the spread of MERS and preventive measures, he added.

Seoul's position is that it's virtually impossible to control access to the Kaesong zone by every individual with a record of visits to MERS-hit regions.

South Korea has confirmed 150 MERS cases across the nation.

Another ministry official said MERS patients can be screened with thermal cameras at immigration offices.

"We will also immediately quarantine South Koreans with fever in the Kaesong Industrial Complex," he told reporters on background.

Meanwhile, the South denounced the North for its public criticism of the Park Geun-hye administration for its handling of the contagious disease.

In a statement issued Sunday, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland claimed the MERS outbreak in the South is a result of the corruption and inability of the Park government. The committee is a communist party organ dealing with daily inter-Korean affairs.

Spokesman Lim urged Pyongyang to stop such denunciations that lack "the minimum etiquette and common sense." (Yonhap)