South Korean officials visit Gaeseong to prepare for liaison office

Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung speaks to reporters, Friday, before visiting North Korea to check facilities at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in preparation for opening a liaison office there. / Joint press corps

'Office unrelated to resuming Gaeseong Industrial Complex'

By Choi Ha-young

A team of South Korean officials visited Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC), an inter-Korean joint industrial zone in North Korea, Friday, to inspect the area before opening a joint liaison office there.

The two Koreas agreed on the plan to establish a liaison office in Gaeseong during a high-level meeting, June 1, as stipulated in the Panmunjeom Declaration signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, April 27.

It was the first visit to the complex by South Korean officials since February 2016, when the South shut down the GIC to protest the North's nuclear test.

"The envisioned opening of the liaison office is the first Panmunjeom Declaration measure to be fulfilled," Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung, who led the team, told reporters before heading to the inter-Korean border.

"This will be an important and meaningful step in ensuring sustainable ties between the two Koreas."

So far, the two Koreas ― technically still at war since the 1953 armistice treaty ― have never operated a joint organization to coordinate inter-Korean affairs. If installed, officials from the two sides are likely to work together in the same building.

Virtually playing the role of an embassy, the liaison office is expected to accelerate cooperative projects and prevent accidental clashes caused by miscommunications between the two Koreas.

The team checked facilities in the complex, including the residence and a support center, which have been virtually abandoned for more than two years and will likely require major repairs to be used again.

The team consisted of 14 people including presidential secretaries, staff members of Hyundai Asan and KT, and staff from the Gaeseong Industrial District Foundation.

As indicated by the participation of KT, one of the South's major telecommunications service providers, the team also checked technical issues involving communications.

During the visit, the South Korean delegates met their North Korean counterparts for working-level talks about preparations for the liaison office, according to the Ministry of Unification.

However, the ministry ruled out the resumption of the industrial complex. The complex, the fruit of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, has been closed since February 2016 following the North's fourth nuclear test in January that year. The then conservative Park Geun-hye administration claimed the income earned through the complex was funneled into the totalitarian state's nuclear and missile programs.

After more nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang and international economic sanctions against the country, restarting the industrial complex is linked to the international sanctions and denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

On Friday, Seoul's National Security Council (NSC) members agreed to open the liaison office promptly and to seek cooperative initiatives in railroad, road and forestation as part of moves to improve inter-Korean relations.

The participants discussed preparations for planned inter-Korean talks ― general-level military talks, June 14; a meeting for sports exchanges, June 18; and a Red Cross meeting, June 22 ― as well as the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, June 12.

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