ID :
66674
Fri, 06/19/2009 - 18:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/66674
The shortlink copeid
(4th LD) Koreas hold talks over joint venture park
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, UPDATES with talks resumed)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea resumed talks over the future of
their joint business park after a brief repose on Friday, amid few signs of
compromise from both sides and growing tensions in the region.
The talks follow a stern message from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who
called for a stronger alliance between Seoul and Washington and vowed effective
sanctions against the North's provocative behavior in a summit with U.S.
President Barack Obama earlier this week.
"The two sides resumed talks at 3:15 p.m.," the Unification Ministry said.
In the morning session that continued for close to two hours, South Korea's
delegation pressed for the release of a worker who has been detained since March
for "slandering" the North's political system, a senior ministry official said in
a background briefing. North Korea presented its demands for wage and rent hikes
at the joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong, the official said.
Seoul officials expressed hope before departing for the talks. "The weather is
good today, so wouldn't the talks go well?" Kim Young-tak, senior representative
for inter-Korean dialogue at the Unification Ministry and head of the 14-member
delegation, told reporters before crossing the border.
Watchers doubt there will be any room for negotiations. North Korea wants South
Korean firms to quadruple monthly wages for its workers to US$300 from the
current $70-80 and raise collective land rent to $500 million, a 31-fold increase
from the $16 million paid when the park opened in 2004.
Unlike the previous round, Seoul heads to the talks with a clear position after
Lee rejected the North Korean demands as "unacceptable" during his summit with
Obama.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek acknowledged the last-remaining inter-Korean
venture is now at a critical moment.
"One step you take and one stone you lay in today's talks will be crucial to
inter-Korean relations. In that sense, I ask you to remain cool-headed during the
talks," Hyun told the delegation before its departure.
Hyun has said Seoul is willing to build dorms and nurseries for North Korean
workers, mostly women in their 20s and 30s, part of the demands put forward by
North Korea along with the wage and rent hikes.
The joint park was born out of the first historic inter-Korean summit in 2000 and
continued to grow under South Korea's liberal governments, despite the North's
first nuclear test in 2006. More than 100 South Korean firms currently operate
there, making clothes, kitchenware, electronic equipment and other
labor-intensive goods with about 40,000 North Korean employees.
But unraveling political relations have taken their toll on the businesses. As a
sign of increased stress, a clothing manufacturer withdrew this month in the
first pullout by a South Korean firm from the industrial park.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea resumed talks over the future of
their joint business park after a brief repose on Friday, amid few signs of
compromise from both sides and growing tensions in the region.
The talks follow a stern message from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who
called for a stronger alliance between Seoul and Washington and vowed effective
sanctions against the North's provocative behavior in a summit with U.S.
President Barack Obama earlier this week.
"The two sides resumed talks at 3:15 p.m.," the Unification Ministry said.
In the morning session that continued for close to two hours, South Korea's
delegation pressed for the release of a worker who has been detained since March
for "slandering" the North's political system, a senior ministry official said in
a background briefing. North Korea presented its demands for wage and rent hikes
at the joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong, the official said.
Seoul officials expressed hope before departing for the talks. "The weather is
good today, so wouldn't the talks go well?" Kim Young-tak, senior representative
for inter-Korean dialogue at the Unification Ministry and head of the 14-member
delegation, told reporters before crossing the border.
Watchers doubt there will be any room for negotiations. North Korea wants South
Korean firms to quadruple monthly wages for its workers to US$300 from the
current $70-80 and raise collective land rent to $500 million, a 31-fold increase
from the $16 million paid when the park opened in 2004.
Unlike the previous round, Seoul heads to the talks with a clear position after
Lee rejected the North Korean demands as "unacceptable" during his summit with
Obama.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek acknowledged the last-remaining inter-Korean
venture is now at a critical moment.
"One step you take and one stone you lay in today's talks will be crucial to
inter-Korean relations. In that sense, I ask you to remain cool-headed during the
talks," Hyun told the delegation before its departure.
Hyun has said Seoul is willing to build dorms and nurseries for North Korean
workers, mostly women in their 20s and 30s, part of the demands put forward by
North Korea along with the wage and rent hikes.
The joint park was born out of the first historic inter-Korean summit in 2000 and
continued to grow under South Korea's liberal governments, despite the North's
first nuclear test in 2006. More than 100 South Korean firms currently operate
there, making clothes, kitchenware, electronic equipment and other
labor-intensive goods with about 40,000 North Korean employees.
But unraveling political relations have taken their toll on the businesses. As a
sign of increased stress, a clothing manufacturer withdrew this month in the
first pullout by a South Korean firm from the industrial park.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
