N. Korea calls meeting with S. Korean firms in Kaesong

By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- Heads of South Korean firms operating at an
inter-Korean joint industrial complex left for North Korea on Monday for a
meeting with their counterparts, a source said.

The one-day trip was made at the request of North Korea, according to the source,
who added the meeting's agenda is not yet known.
Tension is rising on the Korean Peninsula, a week before the date on which North
Korea said it would put into effect additional restrictions against the South as
punishment for what it called Seoul's confrontational policy.
Earlier this month, the North threatened to more strictly control border
crossings starting Dec. 1 unless Seoul takes a new course. The measure is feared
to cripple operations in the South Korea-run industrial complex.
Pyongyang has already closed its Red Cross mission and direct phone links at the
truce village of Panmunjom.
Currently, 88 small-sized South Korean garment and other labor-intensive plants
are operating in Kaesong, located just north of the heavily armed border. The
businesses employ roughly 36,000 North Korean workers.
The visiting South Korean delegation includes two chiefs from the Kaesong
Industrial District Management Committee and the Corporation of Kaesong
Industrial Council, both civilian bodies who control management of the complex,
the source said. Chief managers of the plants will also be in attendance.
It is unknown who will represent North Korea during the meeting, scheduled for
Monday morning.
During the meeting, the North may inform on additional measures aimed at
pressuring South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to change his policies, the
source said. Such steps may include the banning of certain vehicles or South
Korean personnel from entering the complex.
Inter-Korean relations have soured since the conservative Lee government took
office in February. Lee has vowed that the expansion of inter-Korean projects
will only follow North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
North Korea is especially upset at Seoul's reluctance to carry out a slew of
cross-border economic projects that were agreed upon in the historic summits of
2000 and 2007. Those projects would require massive South Korean investment in
the impoverished communist state.
North Korea has also protested the spreading of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by South
Korean activist groups. South Korea's large-scale war exercises with the U.S.
military and the South's participation as a sponsor of the U.N. resolution on
North Korea human rights this year further agitated relations.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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