SEOUL — Seoul condemned North Korea's "arbitrary action" of raising the Kaesong Industrial Complex workers' wages last month, and will call on Kaesong companies to refuse the North's demand.

"North Korea's notification of the arbitrary changes in (Kaesong) labor regulations is against the inter-Korean agreements on the Kaesong Industrial Complex," Ministry of Unification spokesperson Lim Byong-cheol said in a regular press conference on Monday. "The (Seoul) government can never accept this arbitrary action."