REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEOUL - North and South Koreans got back to work Monday at a jointly run factory park after a five-month shutdown triggered by rising animosity between the rivals, with some companies quickly resuming production and others getting their equipment ready. South Korean business owners who have lost millions of dollars because of the hiatus say they'll need several months to recover.

"I feel good about the park's resumption, but I also have a heavy heart," said Sung Hyun-sang, president of apparel manufacturer Mansun Corporation, which has lost about 7 billion won ($6.4 million) because of the shutdown at the Kaesong factory complex. "We've suffered too much damage."

About 800 South Korean managers and tens of thousands of North Korean workers began returning Monday to the factories at the Kaesong park, just north of the Demilitarized Zone.

The reopening is a sign that relations between the Koreas are warming after a spring that saw threats of nuclear war from Pyongyang.

But for businessmen at Kaesong, many of whom operate small or mid-sized companies, there's a nagging worry about the future. The companies at Kaesong say they've lost a combined total of about 1 trillion won (about $920 million) over the past five months and will reportedly need up to a year to get their businesses back on track.

About 1,000 of Mansun's 1,350 North Korean employees returned to work Monday and tested factory equipment. They were to start cutting fabric and doing sewing work by machine later in the day, according to Lee Suk-ja, one of the firm's four South Korean managers who went to Kaesong earlier Monday.

"They were pleased to see us again. It was like meeting them for the first time," Lee said in a phone interview from Kaesong. "Everyone here is extremely busy today."

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