South Korean companies involved in inter-Korean economic projects on Tuesday called for additional compensation and debt write-offs, saying they want to close their businesses for good. The Association of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Organizations demanded the government write off their debts and offer further compensation for investment assets frozen in the North. The demand comes as they no longer see any chance of normalizing inter-Korean ties, let alone resuming economic projects, amid deteriorating ties between Seoul and Pyongyang. "The scars from the shift in inter-Korean relations are still ongoing," Choi Yo-sik, head of the association, said at a meeting with reporters at the government complex in Seoul. "Investment assets left behind in North Korea have sat untouched," he said, "with no access granted," since the government froze all inter-Korean exchanges on May 24, 2010, following the North's sinking of a South Korean warship. Of roughly a thousand South Korean companies once involved in cross-border businesses, 385 remains in operation. Some 50-60 of them have joined the