ID :
57963
Tue, 04/28/2009 - 15:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/57963
The shortlink copeid
N. Korean demands would undercut advantages of Kaesong complex: minister
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The business advantages of a joint industrial complex
in North Korea's would be seriously undermined should wages and land fees soar as
demanded by the North, South Korea's unification minister said Tuesday.
North Korea's detention of a South Korean worker also poses a direct challenge to
the future of the joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong, Hyun In-taek
said, demanding his immediate release.
"I agree with the view that should wages rise excessively or land charges soar,
the competitiveness of the Kaesong industrial complex will be substantially
reduced," Hyun said in a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul.
In government-level talks last week, North Korea demanded South Korean firms pay
more to the local employees and start paying for using the land at the Kaesong
complex. A week has passed, but the Seoul government has yet to decide when to
respond and with what position as it is still gauging opinions from South Korean
firms operating at the park, Hyun said.
Cheap labor, free land use initially guaranteed until 2014 and a common language
had drawn more than 100 South Korean firms to the Kaesong park, just an hour's
drive from Seoul, who chose inter-Korean the venture over China and Southeast
Asian states crowded by foreign investors. The combined output of the companies,
mostly small-sized businesses producing garments, utensils, electronic equipment
and other labor-intensive products with 39,000 North Korean employees, was worth
US$250 million last year.
South Korean firms pay between US$70-$80 on average a month for each North Korean
employee, less than half of what they would pay to Chinese workers. The wages,
directly wired to North Korean government bank accounts, amounted to $26 million
last year, according to ministry data.
"North Korea has raised these issues (of wages and land charges), so we have to
deal with them in the negotiations to be held in the future," Hyun said.
Hyun said North Korea's prolonged detention of the employee of Hyundai Asan
Corp., the developer of the joint park, is "a very serious issue" directly tied
to the business prospect of the Kaesong complex. The Hyundai worker, only
identified by his family name Yu and as a man in his 40s, was detained by North
Korean authorities in Kaesong on March 30 on charges of denouncing the North's
political regime and trying to tempt a local female employee to defect.
North Korea has refused to grant Seoul access to the worker, saying he will
return home when its investigation is completed. Concerns have mounted North
Korea may try to hold him to increase its leverage in the negotiations on the
Kaesong park.
"If something like this happens to an individual working at the Kaesong complex,
it can become a problem directly linked to the Kaesong complex overall. North
Korea should immediately take action to resolve this problem," Hyun said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The business advantages of a joint industrial complex
in North Korea's would be seriously undermined should wages and land fees soar as
demanded by the North, South Korea's unification minister said Tuesday.
North Korea's detention of a South Korean worker also poses a direct challenge to
the future of the joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong, Hyun In-taek
said, demanding his immediate release.
"I agree with the view that should wages rise excessively or land charges soar,
the competitiveness of the Kaesong industrial complex will be substantially
reduced," Hyun said in a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul.
In government-level talks last week, North Korea demanded South Korean firms pay
more to the local employees and start paying for using the land at the Kaesong
complex. A week has passed, but the Seoul government has yet to decide when to
respond and with what position as it is still gauging opinions from South Korean
firms operating at the park, Hyun said.
Cheap labor, free land use initially guaranteed until 2014 and a common language
had drawn more than 100 South Korean firms to the Kaesong park, just an hour's
drive from Seoul, who chose inter-Korean the venture over China and Southeast
Asian states crowded by foreign investors. The combined output of the companies,
mostly small-sized businesses producing garments, utensils, electronic equipment
and other labor-intensive products with 39,000 North Korean employees, was worth
US$250 million last year.
South Korean firms pay between US$70-$80 on average a month for each North Korean
employee, less than half of what they would pay to Chinese workers. The wages,
directly wired to North Korean government bank accounts, amounted to $26 million
last year, according to ministry data.
"North Korea has raised these issues (of wages and land charges), so we have to
deal with them in the negotiations to be held in the future," Hyun said.
Hyun said North Korea's prolonged detention of the employee of Hyundai Asan
Corp., the developer of the joint park, is "a very serious issue" directly tied
to the business prospect of the Kaesong complex. The Hyundai worker, only
identified by his family name Yu and as a man in his 40s, was detained by North
Korean authorities in Kaesong on March 30 on charges of denouncing the North's
political regime and trying to tempt a local female employee to defect.
North Korea has refused to grant Seoul access to the worker, saying he will
return home when its investigation is completed. Concerns have mounted North
Korea may try to hold him to increase its leverage in the negotiations on the
Kaesong park.
"If something like this happens to an individual working at the Kaesong complex,
it can become a problem directly linked to the Kaesong complex overall. North
Korea should immediately take action to resolve this problem," Hyun said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
