hankyoreh

By Song Kyung-hwa, staff reporter

A South Korean company that was preparing to open a factory near the border between North Korea and China this year is facing problems with securing manpower. As wages have risen in China, it is getting harder to recruit workers in the provinces, as many have moved to big cities where they can earn more.

At the beginning of the project, the company had planned to hire North Korean workers but now is apparently unable to do that due to the May 24 Measures put in place by the South Korean government to stop commercial exchange with North Korea after the May 2010 sinking of the Cheonan warship.

Since the enactment of the measures, the Ministry of Unification has forbid South Korean firms from using North Korean labor. According to the law on South-North Korea cooperation, a South Korean must obtain prior approval from the Unification Ministry to contact a North Korean. But when this is requested, one must declare the reason of the contact and when the objective is for labor hire, the request is rejected.

A Unification Ministry official said, “Before the May 24 Measures there was no particular restriction about hiring North Koreans. But we feel that it is not appropriate to hire North Koreans at this time because we want to cut off cash going into the regime.”

There are many South Korean businesses operating in China calling for changes. Many of those businesses are shutting down and returning home as the costs of working in China have gotten too high. They are therefore asking to use North Korean labor, which is much cheaper. A South Korean businessman said, “While the South Korean government is turning economic issues into political problems, the Chinese are taking full advantage of the labor resource and also underground resources that are abundant in North Korea. We hope that that we will also be able to use these resources in a rational manner so that it will be beneficial to the South Korean businesses also.”

An official for the Korea Investment-Trade Promotion Agency said that since the May 24 Measures, there has been a withering to death of South Korean businesses in China that are doing work with North Korea. “Considering the changes that are taking place in North Korea including the labor that is being dispatched to China, there are many South Korean businesses who are expressing frustration that economic activities with North Korea have come to a stop,” the official said.

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