The main opposition Democratic Party called on the government to normalize inter-Korean ties, saying the prolonged impasse is hurting South Korean businesses.
The request came as Friday marked three years since Seoul cut off nearly all inter-Korean exchanges in the wake of the North’s deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March 2010.
The only remaining joint project ― the industrial complex in the North’s border city of Gaeseong ― ground to a halt early last month when North Korea withdrew all of its 53,000 workers in anger over new U.N. sanctions against its regime and U.S.-involved military drills in the South.
“The Gaeseong Industrial Complex is the heart symbolizing inter-Korean exchanges and peace, and the government should not neglect the tears of the (South Korean) businessmen who want the complex to be normalized,” DP floor leader Rep. Jun Byung-hun said in a meeting with representatives of the 123 firms operating in Gaeseong.
The nine-year-old industrial park, a key outcome of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000, combines South Korean capital and technology with cheap North Korean labor to produce clothes, utensils, watches and other labor-intensive goods.
“The Democratic Party has a decade of experience in inter-Korean reconciliation policies,” Rep. Kim Han-gil, the DP chief, said, referring to the liberal administrations of former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. The only two inter-Korean summits took place in 2000 and 2007 under Kim and Roh, respectively.
“If the (incumbent) Park Geun-hye government asks us, we are willing to actively help,” the DP chief said. (Yonhap News)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
