North Korean workers at Kaesong industrial complex in this 2007 file photo. Korea Times file

A fire was detected at the now suspended Kaesong industrial complex, an inter-Korean factory park inside North Korea, on Thursday afternoon and was put out an hour later, the unification ministry said.

South Korea detected the fire at around 2 p.m. at one plant in the industrial complex located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. The fire was extinguished at around 2:50 p.m., the Ministry of Unification said in a text message to reporters.

"The government will make efforts to figure out how much damage the fire caused to the plant and nearby facilities, and share the situation with companies that have plants in the Kaesong industrial zone," it said.

In 2016, South Korea pulled out of the complex in response to the North's nuclear and missile tests, ending more than a decade of cooperation in the joint venture. (Yonhap)