ID :
67545
Wed, 06/24/2009 - 17:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/67545
The shortlink copeid
S. Korean firms in Kaesong renew call for emergency funding
By Kim Deok-hyun
SEOUL, June 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean companies operating at an inter-Korean industrial complex renewed Wednesday their call for emergency funding from the Seoul government, saying their businesses are facing a critical situation.
The fate of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North Korean border city of
Kaesong has become increasingly uncertain as Seoul and Pyongyang failed to
resolve a dispute last week over the North's demands for higher wages and rent at
the complex.
Currently, some 40,000 North Koreans are being hired by about 100 small-sized
South Korean garment makers and other plants at the park in Kaesong, about two
hours drive from Seoul.
Amid deteriorating relations and rising geopolitical tension after the North's
May 25 nuclear test, the second of its kind for the communist regime, the South
Korean firms at Kaesong are grappling with falling orders.
"As inter-Korean talks lengthened without any success, the situation at the
Kaesong Industrial Complex is very critical," said an official at the Corporate
Association of Kaesong Industrial Complex, which represents the South Korean
firms there.
The association reiterated its request that the South Korean government should
offer emergency funding to keep them afloat.
The two Koreas will resume talks on July 2 about the Kaesong complex.
In April, North Korea unilaterally declared that all South Korean firms at the
park without exception must accept new wages and land fees set by it and asked
those who would not accept them to leave.
The North then demanded the South Korean firms hike monthly wages for its workers
by four times to US$300. Also, it requested Hyundai Asan and the Korea Land Corp.
of South Korea, which jointly operate the Kaesong enclave with North Korean
authorities, to pay $500 million for renting the site over the next 50 years, a
3,000-percent increase from the original contract.
It's unclear why North Korea has made such demands, but some South Korean firms
there have begun to feel the heat from heightened tensions.
Early this month, a South Korean fur coat maker said it will withdraw from
Kaesong due to falling orders and security concerns, making it the first company
to pull out of the Kaesong estate.
SEOUL, June 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean companies operating at an inter-Korean industrial complex renewed Wednesday their call for emergency funding from the Seoul government, saying their businesses are facing a critical situation.
The fate of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North Korean border city of
Kaesong has become increasingly uncertain as Seoul and Pyongyang failed to
resolve a dispute last week over the North's demands for higher wages and rent at
the complex.
Currently, some 40,000 North Koreans are being hired by about 100 small-sized
South Korean garment makers and other plants at the park in Kaesong, about two
hours drive from Seoul.
Amid deteriorating relations and rising geopolitical tension after the North's
May 25 nuclear test, the second of its kind for the communist regime, the South
Korean firms at Kaesong are grappling with falling orders.
"As inter-Korean talks lengthened without any success, the situation at the
Kaesong Industrial Complex is very critical," said an official at the Corporate
Association of Kaesong Industrial Complex, which represents the South Korean
firms there.
The association reiterated its request that the South Korean government should
offer emergency funding to keep them afloat.
The two Koreas will resume talks on July 2 about the Kaesong complex.
In April, North Korea unilaterally declared that all South Korean firms at the
park without exception must accept new wages and land fees set by it and asked
those who would not accept them to leave.
The North then demanded the South Korean firms hike monthly wages for its workers
by four times to US$300. Also, it requested Hyundai Asan and the Korea Land Corp.
of South Korea, which jointly operate the Kaesong enclave with North Korean
authorities, to pay $500 million for renting the site over the next 50 years, a
3,000-percent increase from the original contract.
It's unclear why North Korea has made such demands, but some South Korean firms
there have begun to feel the heat from heightened tensions.
Early this month, a South Korean fur coat maker said it will withdraw from
Kaesong due to falling orders and security concerns, making it the first company
to pull out of the Kaesong estate.
