This is an article from NKnews.
I really love this page because I can learn more about North Korea in English, and that means I learn about what I like in the way I like! :-)
http://www.nknews.org/2013/07/s-koreans-not-100-satisfied-with-kaesong-talks-outcome/
North not showing enough remorse for closing Kaesong Industrial Complex, analysts in South say
SEOUL – North Korea agreed to help South Korean businessmen retrieve completed products from the closed inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Zone after holding 16-hour talks in Panmunjom on Saturday.
Korea’s monsoon season––which normally starts in mid-July––arrived early this year, causing South Korean businessmen to put pressure on the government in Seoul to work with the North in the securing of products and materials left behind in the inter-Korean complex after its closure in April.
The two sides were unable to reach an agreement for any long-term solution to permanently reopen the economic zone, however, instead opting to tackle ‘normalization’ during a second round of talks this Wednesday.
“The North and the South will make sure that businesses in the Kaesong Industrial Complex restart operations, depending on their preparations, and decided to hold the next round of talks in the Zone on July 10 for the normalization of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the prevention of another occurance of suspended operation,” a radio broadcast on the Pyongyang-basd Korean Central Broadcasting Station said on Sunday.
‘NO REMORSE’
Both Koreas were unable to agree on what types of “raw materials” could be retrieved from the North, and whether or not a guarantee of safety for South Korean workers in the North could be included within the agreement.
“We are not 100% satisfied, but [the talks] were significant since they confirm the North’s enthusiasm towards the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex,” Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University, told the conservative daily Choson Ilbo.
North Korea did not demonstrate enough remorse for their decision to close the Kaesong complex in April, although it has taken an active role in solving some of the core problems, head of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Project Support Directorate Suh Ho also told the Choson Ilbo.
“If the North promises to actively prevent recurrences [of a closure], we will work to restart industry there –– even get a loan, whatever it takes,” the paper quoted a South Korean businessman with assets in the Zone as saying.
Other South Korean companies, however, have demonstrated an unwillingness to continue work in the Kaesong Industrial Zone as a significant number of customers have looked elsewhere for business following the closure of the complex.
CALL FOR COMPROMISE
During the talks, the North did not mention the cause of closure and was reluctant to bear full responsibility for suspension of operations. Talks were instead focused on the operational and technological aspects needed to combat against potential damage caused by heavy rains, the progressive Hankyoreh newspaper said in Seoul.
“In order to solve the root cause of the problem, institutional measures based on international norms must be put in place so that Kaesong Industrial Zone operations are not unilaterally suspended by North Korea,” Seoul’s Ministry of Unification said on May 28.
The South Korean government entered negotiations demanding reassurance for measures against a future closure of the Zone. Liberal media in Seoul, however, called for more balance in negotiations:
“The normalization of the complex will depend on whether the two sides are willing to compromise and accommodate each other’s position in a second-round meeting to be held on Wednesday,” the Hankyoreh argued on Monday morning.
The two sides will conduct follow-up talks regarding the reopening of the complex and the prevention of another shutdown in the future, Saturday’s joint agreement said. The South Korean government is pushing for a documented “guarantee” protecting the zone –– one that can be accepted by “international standards.”
“Most of our domestic and international buyers have already left us because of our failure to meet the supply schedules,” Kim Hak-gwon, co-chair of a task force of South Korean businesses with premises in the zone, told DongA news. “No buyers will place orders with the companies until there is some kind of guarantee that the Kaesong Industrial Zone will not be affected by political or military conflicts,” he said.
HAPPY DAYS
Inter Korean trade was at a height in 2007 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration with almost $1.8 billion worth of business changing hands in one year alone.
At the time, over 850 items were being traded between the two Koreas, from garlic to soap, lipstick and coal.
According to publicly available Ministry of Unification data, the North’s major exports consisted of “agricultural and marine products” (37.7%), and “mineral products” (32.8%). North Korea has some of the world’s largest natural mineral reserves that, thanks largely to a lack of developed infrastructure, have yet to be fully exploited.
In June, the a North Korean National Defence Commission (NDC) spokesman announced that there would be “a way towards normalizing operations” in the zone and open the Kaesong Industrial Complex if the South stopped its “hostile actions.”
The zone was shut down in April 2013 in response to annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises that Pyongyang regularly sees as a dress rehearsal for the invasion and occupation of the DPRK.
The closure of the complex left more than 53,000 North Korean workers jobless, and 123 South Korean businesses idle.
Headline image: futurecode1. Additional reporting by James Pearson in Seoul....
