(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Nov. 28)

Joint survey
Two Koreas need to set up new model for cooperation

It is meaningful that the two Koreas have agreed to send a joint survey team to
China and Vietnam next month to find an international model for the betterment of
the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

The agreement came before planned bilateral
talks between Washington and Pyongyang to make a breakthrough in the prolonged
standoff over the North's nuclear weapons program. It may be a sign that the
North is trying to create a favorable atmosphere for the talks by making some
conciliatory gestures toward the South, though it has yet to change its
brinksmanship tactics.
The Seoul government also needs to mend ties with the Kim Jong-il regime to ease
tensions and move toward reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. In this regard,
we hope the dispatch of the joint survey team will serve as a catalyst to improve
the tense inter-Korean relationship and expand economic collaboration. And we
urge the North to make more sincere efforts to turn the Gaeseong park, a symbol
of inter-Korean reconciliation following the first summit between leaders of the
two rivals in 2000, into a treasure house to bring co-prosperity to the divided
nation.
Announcing the agreement, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said
Thursday that the Seoul government expects the joint survey to contribute to
enhancing cooperation at the Gaeseong complex. The 10-day survey mission,
scheduled to start on Dec. 12, will consist of 10 people from each side. The team
will look into incentives for foreign investors, the customs process, management,
and operational systems at industrial parks in China and Vietnam that can be used
as references for a new leap for the inter-Korean complex.
The international survey will be the third of its kind after the first in 2005
and the second in 2007. The previous ones, in fact, did not help the North learn
much from the market-oriented reform and open-door policy of such socialist
countries as China and Vietnam. The reason was that the world's last Stalinist
country has tenaciously refused to reform its dilapidated economy and open its
door to the outside world. The North even threatened to shut down the Gaeseong
complex, just north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas,
earlier this year as bilateral relations were aggravated due to Pyongyang's saber
rattling.
It is important for both sides to make sure that the operation of the industrial
complex should not be significantly affected by geopolitical risks. Many South
Korean businesses running production lines there were considering pulling out of
the park due to the North's frequent threats of border closure and restrictions
on cargo traffic and the travel of businessmen. The North has also demanded a
four-fold increase in monthly wages for each worker to $300 and a steep hike in
rent for land. And the detention of an employee of Hyundai Asan, the complex's
South Korean operator, had negative implications on the project. The man was
released in August after 136 days of captivity for unspecified reasons.
Most of all, South and North Korea should restore mutual trust to ensure the
smooth operation and further expansion of the complex, where 116 South Korean
firms employ about 40,000 North Korean workers to produce such goods as
electronics, clothing and kitchenware. The future of the complex depends on how
much effort the two sides will make to set a new model for inter-Korean
cooperation and prosperity.
(END)