By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
North Korea proposed a 5-percent increase in wages of workers in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex on Friday, signaling a shift from its demand that the South must pay $300 in wage hikes at inter-Korean talks in June.
The sudden conciliatory gesture came days after the North released water from the Hwanggang Dam on the Imjin River, which killed six South Koreans.
Unification ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said that the government received a proposal from the North that it would like to sign a contract for a 5-percent wage hike for workers at the joint industrial complex.
Currently, the average minimum monthly income for North Korean workers is approximately $55.
If both sides agree on the 5-percent income hike, the average minimum wage will be approximately $58, except for social security bills.
"The North said it would like to strike the deal with the South as early as possible," said the unification ministry official.
More than 40,000 North Koreans are working at about 110 South Korean manufacturing businesses in the complex.
In the letter, the North did not mention the demand that South Korea should pay $500 million for the use of 1 million pyeong of land (one pyeong equals 3.3. square meters) in the Gaeseong complex, which it suggested in June.
Baek Seung-joo, chief of the Center for Security and Strategy of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said that the North dropping the early demand of wage hikes is an indication that the impoverished economy is pressed hard due to the U.S.-led economic sanctions.
"North Korean officials would have realized that South Korea would not accept the income hikes rate that it suggested earlier. As the impoverished economy gets worse, the North might have thought that it's better to seal a deal with South Korea as early as possible," the expert told The Korea Times.
North Korea has increasingly shown an inconsistent pattern recently. It has displayed a series of conciliatory gestures by releasing a South Korean detainee and sending a delegation to former President Kim Dae-jung's funeral last month.
At the same time, the North also carries out a bellicose act by abruptly discharging water without warning.
The communist state also sent a threatening letter to the United Nations last week saying it had completed the final phase of uranium enrichment and has also extracted a batch of plutonium from spent fuel rods.
The 5-percent income hike was yet another twist.
Observing that the North has sent contradicting signs to the outside world, President Lee Myung-bak said now was a major turning point in South-North relations, labeling it a turbulent period.
During a breakfast meeting with foreign policy advisors, Lee assured that the government would seek a consistent stance on North Korea.
Security expert Baek said the inconsistency may have stemmed from a problem inside its regime, specifically its decision-making process.
"Hawks and doves might have clashed over major decisions, or North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may have some trouble with the military in reaching a consensus on major agendas," he speculated.