MINGORA, Pakistan — Judges trained in Islamic law began reviewing cases today in a northwest Pakistani region where the government has alarmed the West by agreeing to impose religious rule to make peace with the Taliban.

A pair of such judges, or qazis, reviewed 30 minor cases in the Swat Valley’s main city of Mingora but referred all the petitioners to the police for mediation or investigation. A total of seven Islamic courts began functioning in the valley today, top government official Syed Mohammad Javed said.

Pakistan agreed to the Islamic courts after Taliban militants appeared to have gained the upper hand in the valley, a former tourist haven where the military has failed to dislodge the extremists despite a long-running offensive.

Months of fighting killed hundreds of people and forced up to one-third of Swat’s 1.5 million residents to flee.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fully reopened its border today to South Koreans commuting to jobs at factories in a northern economic zone after four days of restrictions, South Korean officials said.The crossing was closed twice in a week, stranding hundreds of South Koreans who work in Kaesong and keeping new deliveries of raw materials from factories in the industrial complex.After partially opening the border Monday, the North Korean military relayed a letter today saying it would fully reopen the crossing to Kaesong workers, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said in Seoul.About 280 South Koreans crossed into Kaesong while 200 others returned home, and some 100 others chose to spend the night in the enclave, the ministry said.North Korea has provided no explanation for the closures, which have unnerved business owners who rely on South Korean managers and raw materials for factories that employ some 38,000 North Korean workers just across the border.But Pyongyang has been critical of Seoul’s decision to hold joint military exercises with the U.S. at a time of heightened tension on the peninsula.