Koreas to normalize consultation office in Kaesong park next week

By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea have decided to normalize the
operation of a joint consultation office that oversees daily operations of their
joint industrial park run in the North, the government said Friday.
The North in December had unilaterally shut down the Inter-Korea Exchange &
Cooperation Consultation Office in the joint park at its border town of Kaesong
and restricted traffic in and out of the park to protest Seoul's hard-line policy
toward it.
Chun Hae-sung, the Unification Ministry's spokesperson, said in a press briefing
that the office will resume operations starting Monday. The two sides have
exchanged the lists of personnel who will work at the office, he said. A total of
13 South Koreans and six North Koreans will be stationed there, according to the
ministry.
North Korea lifted the cross-border traffic restrictions as of Wednesday,
allowing South Koreans to travel to and from Kaesong park at previous numbers and
frequency. Currently, some 100 small-sized South Korean firms operate at the park
with more than 40,000 North Koreans employed.
The office primarily handles administrative affairs for the South Korean
companies operating at the industrial park. Paperwork pertaining to the Kaesong
park was exchanged through Chinese officials following its shutdown.
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