By Kim Rahn
Former President Park Geun-hye unilaterally ordered the shutdown of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in February 2016 without any consultation or decision-making procedures, a reform committee under the Ministry of Unification said Thursday.
At the time, the ministry asked Cheong Wa Dae for more discussions on the shutdown as it would cause huge losses to the South Korean companies operating there, but the presidential office refused, it added
The Park administration announced the closure of the inter-Korean industrial complex Feb. 10, 2016 after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and launched a long-range missile. The complex has been out of operation since then.
Her government said it decided on the shutdown at a National Security Council (NSC) meeting in the morning of Feb. 10, three days after the North’s missile test.
However, the committee found out Park gave a verbal order for the closure two days earlier. Senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security Kim Kyou-hyun notified Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo of this order, and the government made detailed plans about it in the afternoon.
“Such an important issue requires endorsement at a Cabinet meeting, but such a procedure did not take place,” the committee said in its report. “Even though it was a presidential ruling amid a security crisis, such a decision should have been carried out according to the Constitution and due legal process.”
There have been rumors that the shutdown decision was made by Park’s longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil ― the key figure in the massive presidential corruption scandal that led to the president’s downfall ― who allegedly meddled in various state affairs without holding any official title. But the committee said it failed to find out how and why Park made the order because many related documents were sealed under the name of presidential records.
After Cheong Wa Dae notified the ministry of the order, the latter said the sudden closure would cause tremendous financial losses to the South Korean companies, asking the presidential office to “temporarily suspend” operations or to delay the time of the shutdown. Cheong Wa Dae officials, however, said this was unacceptable because Park had given the order, according to the committee.
The Park administration said wages to North Korean workers at Gaeseong were being diverted to fund nuclear development was the reason for the closure. But the committee said Cheong Wa Dae offered insufficient information or evidence for this.
Regarding the mass defection of North Korean restaurant workers and that of former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho, the committee said the unification ministry usually did not announce defections for the safety of the defectors; but it broke this rule for these two. The mass defection was announced four days before the general election in April last year.
“The nation needs to prevent North Korea-related intelligence cases from being used for political purposes,” the committee advised.
The committee was formed in September with nine outside experts. The ministry plans to reflect the committee’s recommendations in establishing policies on North Korea and unification.