ed N. Korea's miscalculation

It’s not easy to reopen complex once closed

South Korea pulled 126 workers, including one Chinese national, out of the troubled Gaeseong Industrial Complex Saturday in accordance with its decision a day earlier. The remaining 50 people at the inter-Korean factory zone ― mostly government employees who manage the site as well as telecom and electrical engineers ― are scheduled to return to the South Monday.

It’s regrettable that the industrial park, the last symbol of cooperation across the world’s most heavily fortified border, may be on the path to permanent closure. The withdrawal is an inevitable and correct decision on the part of the Seoul government, given that the top priority must be put on protecting our citizens.

On Saturday, Pyongyang slammed Seoul’s pullout as the “sheer sophism and hideous provocation of confrontational maniacs,’’ saying South Korea should be held responsible if the complex is shut down permanently. This must be an absurd argument in all respects, considering how the industrial zone, a crucial source of hard currency for the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang, has slipped into virtual shutdown.

More than anything else, it simply defies our understanding that the North rejected a South Korean offer to deliver food and other emergency supplies since it blocked all South Korean access to the border city since April 3. Pyongyang also rejected Seoul’s last-minute proposal to hold negotiations to return the factory zone to normal.

It’s beyond our ability to accurately reason why North Korea opted for such ill-advised and risky ways, but the reclusive nation may have miscalculated. Pyongyang may be thinking it can reopen the complex when necessary, after closing it temporarily as part of its political maneuvering. But this must be a delusion, given that the world has seen the isolated regime in Pyongyang break all contracts and compromises wantonly and use the industrial park as a bargaining chip to apply political and military pressure to Seoul.

Would there be any company willing to invest in the North again after seeing such outrageous acts? And would there be any company in the world to risk having business ties with companies in the Gaeseong complex?

Given this, South Korea needs to do its utmost to prevent the closure of the complex from dragging out for too long and take measures to get ready for its reactivation. Fortunately, Pyongyang has never hinted at permanently shuttering the industrial park so far and let the South Korean workers return home safely without causing any problems. These can be causes for optimism for the future.

Now it’s time for the two Koreas to refrain from provoking each other and have a cooling-off period before sounding out the possibility of getting back to the negotiating table. The South Korean government, in particular, needs to act resolutely to minimize the damage on the returning companies and our economy as a whole.