Gaeseong park at a crossroads

The long-awaited inter-Korean talks at the North Korean border city of Gaeseong today are expected to be a watershed for the future of the joint industrial park there.

A 10-person South Korean delegation led by Kim Young-tak, chief of the Unification Ministry`s headquarters for inter-Korean talks, is scheduled to cross the border in the morning to discuss current issues regarding the industrial enclave.

Five North Korean officials including Park Chul-soo, deputy chief of the Central Special District General Bureau, which overlooks the Gaeseong industrial complex, will meet the South Korean team at 10 a.m. at a Gaeseong office managed by the South`s Unification Ministry.

The delegation from Seoul plans to focus on the South Korean worker under detention in Gaeseong for the 74th day and to demand his early release.



Having declared the existing inter-Korean Gaeseong contracts "null and void," the North is expected to present their detailed demands for higher wages and land use fees.

"The government believes that the various issues raised by the North are discussed in a way that does not hamper the competitiveness of the industrial complex and that the safety of our citizens cannot be separated from maintaining and improving the complex," ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said yesterday at a press briefing.

"The detainee issue is an important agenda item that must be taken care of at the talks."

The North had suggested when officials from the two Koreas met briefly in Gaeseong on April 21 for the first time in 14 months that they begin negotiations on a revision of contracts.

On Tuesday, a South Korean clothing manufacturer named Skin Net decided to pull out of the industrial complex in Gaeseong due to escalating geo-political tension.

South Korean companies in Gaeseong have been hit hard since the North restricted the border crossing of South Koreans and vehicles on Dec. 1.

In March, the North blocked border transit three times in protest of a joint military exercise by South Korea and the United States, and arrested South Korean Yoo Sung-jin on charges of criticizing its political system.

The number of South Korean firms in Gaeseong rose 51 percent from a year ago to 104 in April this year, according to the Unification Ministry. But their combined exports in the four months to April dropped 56.1 percent year-on-year to $7.15 million. Their combined production also shrunk 6.6 percent over the same period to $74.54 million.

South Korean companies wire North Korean employees` monthly wages of about $73 per person to North Korean government bank accounts. A total of $26 million was paid in wages to the North last year, according to ministry data.

"North Korea had agreed to offer labor at a cost much lower than international standards because the Gaeseong project was originally meant to be based on brotherhood with the South, rather than a state-to-state relationship," said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University.

"The South has stopped providing food and fertilizer under the Lee Myung-bak administration, so the North, cash-strapped and internationally sanctioned, is saying it will end the special ties unless the South offers money or aid."

(sophie@heraldm.com)



By Kim So-hyun