ID :
61777
Thu, 05/21/2009 - 23:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/61777
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea proposes new rules on joint venture
SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has presented new rules for South Korean
firms operating at a joint industrial complex on its soil, including a US$10,000
fine for destroying roadside facilities, a spokesperson said Thursday.
But the proposal is part of a "routine" process in setting up detailed
regulations rather than a politically motivated gesture, Unification Ministry
spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.
After the two Koreas agreed in 2000 to open the joint park at the North's border
town of Kaesong, Pyongyang established a law governing the venture in 2002 and
followed up with stipulations to implement it, such as clauses on taxes,
environmental protection and business registration.
North Korea has usually drawn up its own draft on detailed enforcement of the law
and stipulations and sent it to the South for its review, as they are applied to
South Korean businesses and workers at the joint park, officials said.
In its latest proposal sent at the end of April to South Korea's management
office in Kaesong, North Korea laid out detailed rules for using and maintaining
roads, they said. It demanded fines of up to $10,000 for destroying roadside
grave stones and other stone markers and $30 for damaging trees.
The draft also calls for a $1,000 fine for building road blockades without
permission, a $500 fine for lacking safety measures in road construction, $50 for
unregistered operation of caterpillar bulldozers and tractors harmful to pavement
surfaces and $30 for jaywalking.
Seoul officials said some of the proposed regulations may sound extreme, but they
will be revised in future negotiations.
"Businesses go after profit and they may break the law. This is part of a good
process to build public order in Kaesong, where the two different systems
co-exist," a senior ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Officials dismissed a media report that the North may be trying to pressure South
Korean businesses into giving up the joint venture by toughening regulations.
Pyongyang has annulled all its contracts regarding the venture, including those
on wages and land fees, criticizing President Lee Myung-bak's "confrontational"
policy towards it. The North told South Korean firms operating there to accept
its new terms or leave.
The senior official said the latest proposal is "not a political signal but part
of the fieldwork" essential to operating the joint venture.
The Kaesong park, just an hour's drive from Seoul, hosts 106 South Korean firms
who produce clothes, utensils, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive
goods and employ more than 40,000 North Korean workers. Kaesong's output reached
US$250 million last year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
firms operating at a joint industrial complex on its soil, including a US$10,000
fine for destroying roadside facilities, a spokesperson said Thursday.
But the proposal is part of a "routine" process in setting up detailed
regulations rather than a politically motivated gesture, Unification Ministry
spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.
After the two Koreas agreed in 2000 to open the joint park at the North's border
town of Kaesong, Pyongyang established a law governing the venture in 2002 and
followed up with stipulations to implement it, such as clauses on taxes,
environmental protection and business registration.
North Korea has usually drawn up its own draft on detailed enforcement of the law
and stipulations and sent it to the South for its review, as they are applied to
South Korean businesses and workers at the joint park, officials said.
In its latest proposal sent at the end of April to South Korea's management
office in Kaesong, North Korea laid out detailed rules for using and maintaining
roads, they said. It demanded fines of up to $10,000 for destroying roadside
grave stones and other stone markers and $30 for damaging trees.
The draft also calls for a $1,000 fine for building road blockades without
permission, a $500 fine for lacking safety measures in road construction, $50 for
unregistered operation of caterpillar bulldozers and tractors harmful to pavement
surfaces and $30 for jaywalking.
Seoul officials said some of the proposed regulations may sound extreme, but they
will be revised in future negotiations.
"Businesses go after profit and they may break the law. This is part of a good
process to build public order in Kaesong, where the two different systems
co-exist," a senior ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Officials dismissed a media report that the North may be trying to pressure South
Korean businesses into giving up the joint venture by toughening regulations.
Pyongyang has annulled all its contracts regarding the venture, including those
on wages and land fees, criticizing President Lee Myung-bak's "confrontational"
policy towards it. The North told South Korean firms operating there to accept
its new terms or leave.
The senior official said the latest proposal is "not a political signal but part
of the fieldwork" essential to operating the joint venture.
The Kaesong park, just an hour's drive from Seoul, hosts 106 South Korean firms
who produce clothes, utensils, electronic equipment and other labor-intensive
goods and employ more than 40,000 North Korean workers. Kaesong's output reached
US$250 million last year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
