South Korea is not considering closing a joint industrial venture in North Korea despite the "crisis" it faces after Pyongyang's unilateral decision to scrap business contracts, Seoul's unification minister said Monday.
Seoul plans to make another offer for inter-Korean talks involving the Gaeseong complex, the last remaining reconciliatory project between the two sides, even though North Korea has already rejected two earlier proposals, Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday, quoting Minister Hyun In-taek.
The joint venture in the North's border town of Gaeseong is girding itself for possible setbacks after North Korea announced it had canceled all inter-Korean contracts regarding the complex and will unilaterally raise wages, land fees and taxes. Pyongyang also told South Korean firms that it would not accept the new terms to leave.
"The industrial complex is now at a critical juncture. But our government will make utmost efforts to ensure its stable development," Hyun was quoted as saying in an opening speech at a local forum.
He called the joint venture "the last-remaining hope for the future (of inter-Korean ties) amid political and military rigidness."
The Gaeseong complex, just an hour's drive from Seoul, opened in late 2004 under an agreement of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
More than 100 small South Korean firms operate in Gaeseong, matching their capital and technology with the cheap but skilled labor of nearly 40,000 North Korean employees.
North Korea initially requested inter-Korean talks over the joint venture last month, the first such proposal in more than a year. But the meeting on April 21 ended in less than half an hour due to tussling over the agenda, with North Korea demanding wage hikes and contract revisions but refusing to discuss Seoul's primary concern ― the fate of a detained South Korean worker at the complex.
The employee of Hyundai Asan, the South Korean developer of the joint park, was arrested in Gaeseong on March 30 on charges of criticizing the North's political system. North Korea has continued to deny Seoul access to the man, identified only by his surname Yu.
Seoul proposed another meeting for last week, but the second round did not materialize due to the agenda differences.
In Friday's statement, North Korea accused Seoul of delaying the meeting "over an issue outside the agenda," referring to the matter of the detained worker.
Hyun reiterated Seoul's position that "the matter of Yu is a fundamental issue to the Gaeseong park" and will make another proposal for talks "at an appropriate time."
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