N. Korea sends more workers to Kaesong despite stalemate: businessmen

(ATTN: UPDATES with ministry spokesman saying replacements)
SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has recently dispatched 700 new workers to
South Korean firms at an industrial park on its soil, businessmen said Monday,
amid a stalemate in government-level negotiations over the joint venture.

The move raised questions about the intentions of North Korea, which has clouded
the future of the last remaining inter-Korean venture with a demand for steep
wage and rent hikes there.
Two South Korean businessmen who operate factories at the park in the North's
border town of Kaesong said about 700 North Korean workers were newly dispatched
to South Korean firms there last month, and more were expected this week.
"The North side is telling us it will continue to supply labor," one businessman
who owns a clothing firm said, asking to remain anonymous. His factory received
50 workers, some as young as high school graduates, increasing its work force to
350.
But Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said the newly-arriving workers
were replacements, not reenforcements, after some employees left as part of
regular rotations.
"The employees were redeployed within the existing work force," Chun said in a
briefing.
About 39,200 North Koreans work at the park that hosts 109 South Korean firms,
according to the latest ministry data available.
Ministry officials could not say whether Pyongyang's latest action meant North
Korea intends to continue to develop the joint park or was a face-saving measure
preceding another hardline action, such as expelling South Korean firms who
refuse to meet its demands on wage and rent hikes.
The joint park has been seen by outsiders as a rare source of hard cash for North
Korea's frail economy, providing more than US$26 million in wages last year. Some
analysts say, however, that Pyongyang is willing to risk economic losses to drive
home its political messages.
Government-level negotiations made no progress, with the latest round held on
July 2 ending without even scheduling the next meeting. North Korea demanded
payment for a 50-year lease be raised to $500 million, scrapping a 2004 contract
in which South Korean developers paid $16 million.
Pyongyang also refused to allow access to a detained South Korean engineer. The
Hyundai Asan Corp. employee was taken custody in March on accusations of
criticizing the North's political system and trying to persuade a local female
employee at the joint park to defect to the South.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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