Koreas to hold joint int'l survey for Kaesong park

(ATTN: UPDATES with reaction from businesses, minor edits in lead, para 5)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea will send a joint survey team to
China and Vietnam next month to try to find an international model that can help
facilitate the development of their shared factory park, a senior official here
said Thursday.
The joint trip, set for mid-December, may be a sign that the North intends to
continue its conciliatory diplomacy toward South Korea despite a spate of recent
decisions by Seoul that have angered Pyongyang.
"The joint survey has been agreed upon, and we are still talking about details,"
the top official at the Unification Ministry told reporters at a background
briefing.
"We have yet to set up a very detailed schedule," he said, "But we are thinking
of industrial parks in China and Vietnam."
North Korea recently agreed to hold the international survey, which was proposed
by the South after payment disputes arose over the joint park in the North Korean
border town of Kaesong, the official said.
The joint trip would be a watershed for the Kaesong park, whose fate once hung by
a thread amid political tensions earlier this year. Inter-Korean relations
rapidly chilled after the conservative government of Lee Myung-bak came to power
in Seoul last year and became further strained after the North's nuclear test in
May.
North Korea shifted to a more conciliatory stance in August, reaching out to
Seoul and Washington for dialogue and lifting restrictions on inter-Korean
business ventures.
But North Korean media recently resumed their vitriolic criticism of Seoul,
pointing to its prolonged suspension of a lucrative North Korean mountain tour
and its participation in a U.N. resolution condemning the North's human rights
condition. The North called South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, who
is in charge of inter-Korean relations, a "traitor" impeding cross-border
relations.
The top official defended decisions by the Seoul government, saying its North
Korea policy is flexible and that inter-Korean dialogue is quietly taking place
out of public view.
"Some may think our government's stance is too hard-line. For example, they may
say, 'Why are there so many conditions when North Korea wants to resume the Mount
Kumgang tour?'" the official said. "But that is not the only aspect of current
inter-Korean relations. Dialogue is going well, and there are various currents
going on in inter-Korean relations."
The official said the two Koreas will team up with about 10 people on each side
for the survey.
In April, North Korea complained of low wages and land fees paid by South Korean
firms at the joint park, which opened in 2004. Several rounds of unsuccessful
negotiations ensued, with North demanding a four-fold increase in the monthly
wage for North Korean workers to US$300.
In June, South Korea proposed joint inspections abroad to help North Korea learn
international business customs and aid the two sides in narrowing their
differences. Under the proposal, the joint team is to visit foreign-invested
complexes in China and Vietnam first, then Central Asia and finally the United
States and other advanced countries.
The Koreas made a similar trip before relations chilled in 2007, during which
seven officials from both sides toured industrial facilities in China and Vietnam
for 10 days.
Businesses operating in Kaesong welcomed the agreement.
"North Korean officials don't go overseas very much, so they don't know how
well-equipped the Kaesong park is by international standards," Ok Sung-seok,
chief of Nine Mode Co., a clothing maker.
"They demand more, but in my view, there's no other place that is better than
Kaesong."
The joint park, just north of the inter-Korean border, hosts 116 South Korean
firms employing more than 40,800 North Koreans. Factories there produce mostly
labor-intensive goods such as electronics, clothing and kitchenware. An average
North Korean worker currently earns about $80.
The Kaesong venture is a major result of the historic first inter-Korean summit
in 2000.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)