The country's largest law firm is preparing to draft legislation aimed at compensating companies that have taken a hit from the suspension of an inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea, a law firm official said Sunday.

The factory complex in the North's border city of Gaeseong has remained idle since early April as Pyongyang pulled all its workers from 123 South Korean companies there, citing South Korea's provocations.

"A task force of lawyers has started its research on the special compensation bill for Gaeseong companies," said Mok Young-joon of Kim & Chang in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

"We will be able to come up with a draft bill in a couple of months." Mok, a former justice of the Constitutional Court, was recently named chief of Kim & Chang's social contribution committee, which signed a business tie-up in mid-April with the crisis center for the Gaeseong firms to provide free legal advice.

An association made up of the South Korean companies has set up the center to deal with the fallout from the suspension of the Gaeseong factory park, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

The South Korean companies are estimated to have suffered up to 3 trillion won ($2.68 billion) in losses from the suspension of the industrial complex.

In a move to alleviate the plight of companies forced to leave Gaeseong suddenly, the Seoul government announced that it will provide 300 billion won in emergency liquidity to the companies.

Gaeseong's operations came to a halt in early April as North Korea withdrew all of its 53,000 workers from the South Korean factories in the zone. Pyongyang also barred South Koreans, parts and supplies from entering the complex while only allowing those already there to return to the South.

The suspension of the industrial park was one of a string of steps that Pyongyang has taken in anger over U.S.-involved annual military exercises in the South and a new U.N. sanctions resolution adopted after its third nuclear test in February.

The industrial zone, which combined cheap North Korean labor with the South's technology and capital, was the result of the historic summit between late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his counterpart Kim Jong-il in June 2000. (Yonhap News)