Two Koreas to discuss ways to revamp joint industrial park

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; ADDS details, background throughout)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- Officials from North and South Korea will hold talks
next week on ways to follow up on their joint survey of overseas industrial parks
last month, an official said Thursday.
A 10-member delegation from each side visited Chinese and Vietnamese industrial
complexes from Dec. 12-22 to explore ways to improve their joint management of a
factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.
"We had proposed the talks, and North Korea notified us that it wants to hold
them to evaluate our trip to the areas," a Unification Ministry official said,
declining to be named citing policy.
The official added the two sides have agreed to hold the talks on Jan. 19 at the
Kaesong industrial town, which is a major symbol of reconciliation following the
first inter-Korean summit in 2000.
The agreement is the latest sign that North Korea, which has bolstered its
determination to raise the standard of living for its people this year, is moving
to improve ties with the South. The two sides remain technically at war after the
1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
Some 110 South Korean firms operate there with about 42,000 North Korean workers,
producing mostly labor-intensive goods such as electronics, clothing and
kitchenware.
South Korea's chief delegate to the joint survey -- the third of its kind since
the Kaesong park opened in 2004 -- said last month that Seoul and Pyongyang had
reached consensus during the trip that their joint park should become
"internationally competitive."
During the survey, the North paid attention to wage and insurance systems,
according to the South, which was more interested in infrastructure and safety
issues, tax benefits and customs systems.
South Korean firms pay an average of $80 a month to North Korean workers in
Kaesong. The payments are made directly to the North Korean government.
The itinerary included visits to Chinese factories run by such South Korean
giants as steelmaker POSCO Co. and office equipment maker Sindoh Co., and to a
Vietnamese handset plant operated by Samsung Electronics Co. The factories are
located in Qingdao, an industrial port town in China's northeast, and in Suzhou,
a hub for China's silk industry, as well as in Yen Phong, a Vietnamese town near
Hanoi.
The fate of the park came into question early last year amid deteriorating
political relations and North Korean demands to sharply raise wages and land fees
paid by South Korean firms.
But the trip to Chinese and Vietnamese industrial complexes by representatives
from the two Koreas was a major sign of Pyongyang's shift towards greater
cooperation with Seoul.
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