ID :
33255
Mon, 12/01/2008 - 09:07
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/33255
The shortlink copeid
Less than 1,000 S. Koreans allowed to stay in Kaesong
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details, background; CHANGES source; ADDS byline)
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- Pyongyang has decided to allow only 880 South Korean
officials and managers to stay at a joint industrial enclave in North Korea
starting Monday, officials here said, far below the level sought by Seoul.
The North had negotiated with the private South Korean group Kaesong Industrial
District Management Committee over how may would be allowed to remain after
Pyongyang ordered the number of South Koreans with working visas in Kaesong be
halved.
The North did, however, guarantee that management activities by the plants would
be allowed to continue. The factory complex is a major cash cow for the
impoverished country.
North Korea announced a week ago it would allow dozens of South Korean factories
operating in the Kaesong industrial complex to keep staffers essential to
management. Seoul requested that between 1,500 to 1,700 South Korean workers be
allowed to stay.
Many fear the downsizing will have a negative impact on the operations of the 88
small-sized South Korean manufacturers currently in the North, despite
Pyongyang's pledge to exempt them from initial retaliatory measures against what
it calls Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
Nearly all cross-border projects were put on hold over the weekend with the
North's announcement. South Korea halted cross-border rail services and
sightseeing tours to the ancient North Korean city and evacuated thousands of its
nationals from Kaesong and the South Korea-run mountain resort of Geumgang on the
North's east coast over the weekend.
Companies operating in Kaesong said they expect those who did not receive work
visas from the North would be able to work with travel visas for short-term
stays.
Currently, only about 680 South Korean nationals are in Kaesong, down from around
4,000 early last week.
Inter-Korean relations have worsened since South Korea's conservative President
Lee Myung-bak took office in February and took a firmer stance toward Pyongyang
than his two liberal predecessors.
Pyongyang has so far blamed Lee for heightening tensions by refusing to implement
a slew of cross-border economic projects that were agreed upon in historic
summits of 2000 and 2007 and to change his stance toward Pyongyang. Those
projects would require massive South Korean investment in the impoverished
communist state.
North Korea has also voiced strong opposition to the spreading of anti-Pyongyang
leaflets by South Korean activist groups and South Korea's large-scale war
exercises with the U.S. military. It was also angered by Seoul's participation as
a co-sponsor of the U.N. resolution denouncing Pyongyang's human rights situation
last month.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- Pyongyang has decided to allow only 880 South Korean
officials and managers to stay at a joint industrial enclave in North Korea
starting Monday, officials here said, far below the level sought by Seoul.
The North had negotiated with the private South Korean group Kaesong Industrial
District Management Committee over how may would be allowed to remain after
Pyongyang ordered the number of South Koreans with working visas in Kaesong be
halved.
The North did, however, guarantee that management activities by the plants would
be allowed to continue. The factory complex is a major cash cow for the
impoverished country.
North Korea announced a week ago it would allow dozens of South Korean factories
operating in the Kaesong industrial complex to keep staffers essential to
management. Seoul requested that between 1,500 to 1,700 South Korean workers be
allowed to stay.
Many fear the downsizing will have a negative impact on the operations of the 88
small-sized South Korean manufacturers currently in the North, despite
Pyongyang's pledge to exempt them from initial retaliatory measures against what
it calls Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
Nearly all cross-border projects were put on hold over the weekend with the
North's announcement. South Korea halted cross-border rail services and
sightseeing tours to the ancient North Korean city and evacuated thousands of its
nationals from Kaesong and the South Korea-run mountain resort of Geumgang on the
North's east coast over the weekend.
Companies operating in Kaesong said they expect those who did not receive work
visas from the North would be able to work with travel visas for short-term
stays.
Currently, only about 680 South Korean nationals are in Kaesong, down from around
4,000 early last week.
Inter-Korean relations have worsened since South Korea's conservative President
Lee Myung-bak took office in February and took a firmer stance toward Pyongyang
than his two liberal predecessors.
Pyongyang has so far blamed Lee for heightening tensions by refusing to implement
a slew of cross-border economic projects that were agreed upon in historic
summits of 2000 and 2007 and to change his stance toward Pyongyang. Those
projects would require massive South Korean investment in the impoverished
communist state.
North Korea has also voiced strong opposition to the spreading of anti-Pyongyang
leaflets by South Korean activist groups and South Korea's large-scale war
exercises with the U.S. military. It was also angered by Seoul's participation as
a co-sponsor of the U.N. resolution denouncing Pyongyang's human rights situation
last month.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
