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Speaking in connection with the detention and investigation of an employee at Hyundai Asan's Kaesong (Gaeseong) company site, currently being identified only by his last name of Yu, a North Korean spokesperson for the Central Special Zone Development Guidance General Bureau said Friday, “Our government authority in charge of that matter is currently proceeding deeper in its investigation.” The bureau is the North Korean body in charge of the Kaesong Industrial Complex project.

Responding to a question from a Korean Central News Agency journalist, the spokesperson said, “Yu came into the Kaesong Industrial Region and committed a serious act in contravention of corresponding laws, violating the Republic’s (North Korea) right of autonomy by maliciously slandering our dignified system.” This was the first public reference to Yu’s arrest in the media by North Korean authorities since his detention on March 30. At that time, North Korea’s immigration operations division for the complex sent a notice to South Korean authorities informing them that Yu had “criticized the republic’s political system and conspired to pervert and corrupt a female employee so that she would leave North Korea” and would be investigated according to the Agreement Regarding Admission and Staying in the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

The spokesperson also said, “Recently, the authorities and conservative media of South Korea, unaware of the true nature of the incident, have been insisting that we violated the ‘Agreement Regarding Admission and Staying’ with Yu’s so-called ‘detention issue,’ and they have strengthened their conspiratorial activities against the republic, characterizing our investigation as a ‘violation of human rights.’”

“If the South Korea authorities and conservatives continue on this way, the situation will become even graver, and nothing good for the Kaesong Industrial Region project will come of it,” the spokesperson added.

The government is paying particular attention to North Korea’s mention of the charges of a “serious act” committed by Yu. The Agreement Regarding Admission and Staying in the Kaesong Industrial Complex basically adopts measures of warning, fines and expulsion for South Korean employees who violate law and order, but also specifies that “acts that both South Korea and North Korea agree are serious violations will be handled through separate agreement between the two parties.” Some observers are mentioning the possibility that Pyongyang might later announce plans to take measures beyond expulsion for the serious nature of the acts being charged against Yu. If this happens, a quick resolution to the situation will be unlikely.

Experts are calling North Korea’s claims both an objection and warning against recent attempts by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to turn Yu’s detention into an international issue, for example by petitioning the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council. “Presenting this issue to the UN will elicit an allergic reaction from North Korea and complicate the issue rather than resolving it,” said Dongguk University professor Kim Yong-hyun.

“Insofar as it is an issue where an individual’s personal safety is on the line, they need to find a way of resolving it carefully through discussions within the framework of inter-Korean relations,” Kim advised.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]