By Chung Min-uck
North Korea threatened to scrap the industrial complex in Gaeseong and turn the area into a military base.
The threat came amid heightened inter-Korean tension over an imminent nuclear test, and just days after Seoul said it will tighten inspection of industrial parts and materials going to the complex to reflect the recent United Nations Security Council resolution calling for tighter sanctions on Pyongyang.
"If the South thinks the so-called sanctions against the Gaeseong industrial complex can put any pressure on us, they are gravely mistaken," an unidentified spokesman for the North's National Economic Cooperation Committee said in a statement, Wednesday. “Pyongyang will withdraw any privilege afforded to South Korean companies at the Gaeseong complex should the South or anyone else even touch the joint complex… and we will take other stern measures such as turning the area back into our military district."
However, government officials and watchers say Pyongyang has no intention to scrap the complex because the move is bound to further damage its moribund economy.
“The North is overreacting following the South’s continuous call for nuclear renunciation,” said a unification ministry official asking for anonymity, Thursday. “Pyongyang has no intention to interfere with economic activities of the companies operating there.”
Gaeseong, currently home to 123 South Korean companies, sits north of the inter-Korean border with all materials needed to produce goods there shipped from the South. Seoul did not halt economic cooperation taking place at the industrial park even after imposing a May 24 measure in 2010 that put most inter-Korean economic relations on hold.
According to data provided by the Ministry of Unification, the North earned $177 million (192.8 billion won) in 2012 through economic cooperation with the South. Most of the profits came from the operation of the industrial park.
Asked about its true intentions, the official said “After the announcement of a third nuclear test, Pyongyang is trying to create an air of anxiety in Seoul and within the international community.”
“It is almost impossible for the North to scrap the complex,” said Shin Chang-hoon, a researcher with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “By doing so, the North will experience enormous economic loss, especially in terms of earning dollars. The comments are nothing but a threat to halt the discussion among the international community, including Seoul, about imposing additional sanctions on them after the nuclear test. It is mere political rhetoric.”