A civic group of lawyers Thursday demanded the presidential office and the Unification Ministry disclose the legal grounds on which the authorities decided to close the Gaeseong industrial park in North Korea.

“The shutdown of the factory should have a legal basis and follow legal procedures as it directly restrains business activities and property rights,” Song Ki-ho from the Lawyers for a Democratic Society said in a statement.

Seoul announced a complete suspension of the jointly run industrial complex on Wednesday in response to Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test last month and the launch of a long-range rocket earlier this week.

Viewing the decision as a breach of domestic laws, the group asked the presidential office whether it took the action based on the president’s constitutional right to issue executive orders in urgency. 

South Korea’s president has the authority to give an order when the nation faces an emergency and does not need to refer it to the National Assembly. But the situation was not urgent enough, the group said.

The group also cited the breach of the Inter-Korean Exchange Cooperation Act. According to the act, the government can halt operations at the Gaeseong complex when it poses a clear threat to national security. But there needs to be a six-month suspension period before any action. 

With the government yet to officially release its response, an official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters that the measure was to protect South Korean citizens.

“The shutdown is to pressure North Korea to change its stance on development of nuclear programs and to end the vicious cycle of the North’s provocations,” the official said. “The government will help minimize the damage to local companies operating in the inter-Korean industrial complex.”

More than 54,000 North Korean workers have been employed in labor-intensive sectors under 124 South Korean companies operating in the border city of Gaeseong, some 50 kilometers from Seoul.

The complex has been a major source of financial resources for the North, with the South providing about $100 million a year to workers in wages. Some experts on North Korea have alleged that most of the proceeds from the operation of the factories had been diverted to develop nuclear weapons and missiles.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)