By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea pushed North Korea Tuesday to accept a proposal to hold working-level talks in order to normalize the closed Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
The North stopped all access to the North’s border city from the South on April 3, citing provocations from Seoul against its sovereign dignity, and subsequently withdrew all 53,000 North Korean workers employed by the 123 South Korean companies operating there on April 9.
“To build trust related to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, there needs to be an effort to allow the local companies to retrieve production materials and finished goods, which requires working-level talks,” Ministry of Unification Spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said in a briefing.
“The North keeps mentioning the normalization of the joint industrial park without responding to the South’s calls for talks. We are not sure of its sincerity.”
South Korea has made proposals for talks over the complex, the latest of which was rejected last week, when Pyongyang said Seoul’s proposal for talks on recovering raw materials and finished goods from Kaesong was a “crafty ploy” and demanded the South stop making provocative remarks against the North.
Instead, the communist country has sent fax messages to several companies with factories in the border town stating that it wants the talks.
“It is a miscalculation that the North thinks it can cause conflicts in the South and gain something from it,” Kim said.
On Monday a delegation of businessmen comprised of 243 people from 103 companies asked permission from the North to visit their factories and check on facilities on Thursday, the unification ministry said. Ahead of the request, on three other occasions business owners applied for access, but all were rejected.
“For the trip to take place, the North must give assurances for their safety, and talks are needed to facilitate their passage over the demilitarized zone,” the spokesman said.
The ministry also said the launching of short-range rockets by the Kim Jong-un regime over three- days ― from Saturday to Monday ― was seen as provocative. After firing its sixth projectile, North Korea claimed the launches were “a normal military exercise.”
The North is reported to have declared a no-sail zone off its east coast until Tuesday, a notice to stay out of the region as well as a sign it would likely launch missiles in the area.
“North Korea issued a no-sail zone from Saturday to Tuesday and now, there are some ships at sea around the area, so the launch seems to have wrapped up,” a government official told Yonhap News.