N. Korea blasts Lee for opposing dormitory construction in Kaesong

By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- The Rodong Sinmun, the organ of North Korea's
Workers' Party, on Sunday lambasted South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for
opposing a plan by South Korean companies to build a dormitory for North Korean
workers at an inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border town of
Kaesong.
Lee, while meeting with a group of South Korean businessmen early this month,
expressed concern about possible negative effects from the consolidation of North
Korean workers in one dormitory on the corporate activities of South Korean
investors. He cited labor-management conflicts and even an inter-Korean conflict
among the potential negative effects.
But the North Korean newspaper denounced Lee for attempting to ruin the Kaesong
industrial complex.
"Lee is plotting to destroy the Kaesong industrial complex by insisting the
construction of a new dormitory there would trigger labor-management conflicts,"
Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary.
"Any mention of labor-management conflict is an insult to us. Lee is actually
trying to ruin all business projects in Kaesong."
The North's paper, again calling Lee a "traitor," warned that inter-Korean
relations are hopeless as long as Lee continues to harbor an "anti-nationalistic"
way of thinking.
The government of Lee's predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, concluded a deal with
Pyongyang last December to build a dormitory capable of accommodating 15,000
North Korean manual workers to be employed by South Korean companies operating in
the Kaesong industrial park, located just north of the inter-Korean border.
With inter-Korean dialogue suspended following Lee's inauguration in February,
however, Kaesong's dormitory project has not made any further progress.
At present, about 32,000 North Koreans work for 79 South Korean manufacturing
plants at the Kaesong complex, a legacy of the previous South Korean liberal
governments' engagement policy towards the North. The North Korean workers
commute by bus from Kaesong, which has a population of about 150,000.
North Korea has persistently asked for the construction of dormitory facilities
inside the industrial complex, citing the fact that additional South Korean
plants to be built there in the future would find it difficult to recruit
sufficient workers from among Kaesong residents.