By Kim Young-jin
North Korea has accepted a request by eight South Korean lawmakers to visit the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North on Friday, a Seoul official said Monday.
Pyongyang sent a message to the South agreeing to the visit a day earlier, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said during a press briefing.
The trip to the complex, a rare symbol of reconciliation between the sides, comes amid lingering tensions between the Koreas and as the North transitions to a new leadership after the death of late ruler Kim Jong-il.
The bipartisan delegation, comprised of lawmakers on either the National Assembly’s inter-Korean or foreign affairs committees, will meet with heads of South Korean firms operating at the complex and tour the area before returning the same day.
They will be the first lawmakers to visit the North since Kim’s death in December. No plans, however, have been made to meet with North Korean officials.
Tensions have been high since 2008 when President Lee Myung-bak implemented a hard line policy on the North, then worsened in 2010 with Pyongyang’s two deadly provocations.
The North, under the fledgling regime of Kim’s youngest son, Kim Jong-un, has ratcheted up its rhetoric of late. Last week it issued a strongly-worded statement calling for Seoul to apologize for the way it responded to Kim’s death before any dialogue between the governments.
Seoul offered sympathy to the North Korean people after Kim’s passing but decided against sending an official condolence delegation, to which Pyongyang reiterated its promise to wait for Lee to leave office before engaging in cross-border talks.
Despite the tension, the reconciliatory project at Gaeseong has largely maintained operations. Analysts say the North values the cash it brings in while for Seoul it is a key tool to gauge the recalcitrant neighbor.
More than 120 South Korean companies operate there, manufacturing products such as shoes and accessories with the employment of nearly 50,000 North Korean workers. The project was agreed upon during a landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000.
The lawmakers are expected to get an outline of the difficulties faced by the South Korean companies operating there. The ministry oversees inter-Korean ties and cross-border travel.
The delegation will include Rep Park Joo-sun of the main opposition Democratic United Party and Nam Kyung-pil of the ruling Grand National Party.