Investors fret over stalled Gaeseong talks
Han Jae-kwon, center, chairman of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex Companies Association, reads out a statement at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business building in Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap
By Chung Min-uck
Business owners who run factories in the inter-Korean industrial complex of Gaeseong urged South and North Korea to produce right away a deal that will put the shuttered factory park back on track, Tuesday.
“We firmly request swift normalization of the Gaeseong Industrial Park (GIC),” said in a statement a task force that represents 123 South Korean companies that operate in the North’s border city. “The two Koreas must immediately hold talks and agree to reopen.”
The GIC has remained idle for almost four months since early April after the North unilaterally pulled all of its 53,000 workers out of the complex citing the South’s military provocation of joint exercises with the U.S.
The shutdown of the complex is estimated to have caused up to 1.05 trillion won ($935 million) in losses to the South Korean firms.
“We ask North Korea to guarantee without preconditions that a unilateral shutdown of the factory park won’t recur,” it said while insisting to the South Korean government that the North’s proposal made during the sixth round of working level talks was agreeable.
The task force further called on the two Koreas to allow the 123 companies to send their factory managers to visit Gaeseong and check production facilities. Any trip to the North requires the approval of the government here as well as consent from the North.
The task force also called for compensation for the companies in case the South Korean government decides to shut down the joint factory park in the North.
The request comes because the two sides this month held six rounds of negotiations but failed to iron out differences over which sides to take the responsibility of the shutdown and under what conditions to reopen the shuttered complex.
Seoul called on Pyongyang Tuesday to respond promptly to its proposal to hold “final” talks to normalize the industrial park.
However, the North has yet to respond to Seoul’s offer for negotiations made Monday.
The South has warned of a “grave” decision to be taken if the North doesn’t respond or if it doesn’t change its stance on measures to prevent a recurrence of disruptions.
“We cannot wait forever because of the mounting damage to companies with factories at the complex and public concerns,” said a unification ministry official. “The North needs to show sincerity in the safeguard issue that is a key pre-requisite to the normalization of the business park.”
Seoul insists on getting strong assurance from the North that it will not take unilateral actions in the future to disrupt operations, adding that Pyongyang must accept full responsibility for the current state of affairs.
But the North said Seoul is to blame for the impasse and rejected calls for providing safeguards. It all but said that all operations must return to normal immediately without engaging in a blame game over who is responsible for the shutdown.