hankyoreh

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer and Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

A third round of talks aimed at normalizing and developing operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex ended without any breakthroughs on July 15.

The South Korean side demanded a pledge from the North to prevent future closures and protections for personnel and assets, while North Korea reiterated its calls to resume operations at the complex as soon as possible.

Neither side made concessions, but a disaster was potentially averted when they agreed to meet again in Kaesong on July 17 for a fourth round of talks.

Kim Ki-yong, the new chief of the Ministry of Unification’s support team for inter-Korean cooperative zones, was attending for the first time as head of the South Korean delegation. Speaking with reporters after the talks, Kim said there had been a total of four meetings that day: two general meetings and two meetings between delegation heads.

“We exchanged views on each other’s agreement ideas, but there were some differences in position. As a result, we decided to meet again in Kaesong on July 17 after we’ve had a chance to examine each other’s plans,” Kim said.

During the meeting, the delegation from Seoul emphasized that no agreement was possible without North Korea’s assurance that the complex would not be shut down again in the future.

“We stressed that they have to guarantee that we’re not going to see the Kaesong Complex being shut down again,” a Unification Ministry senior official explained on condition of anonymity.

The ministry offered a number of concrete ideas for preventive measures, including a legal or institutional framework for personnel safety and asset protection and guarantees on international business standards.

Delegates appear to have placed less emphasis on North Korea “making a responsible statement of position,” as had been demanded in the second round of talks.

North Korea maintained its position that the complex should be started up again quickly, the official reported.

Kim said the North Korean representatives “called for the complex to be up and running again as soon as possible and reiterated their previous explanation for the cause of the shutdown.”

North Korea appears to have argued that it could not accept sole responsibility for the shutdown, which it maintains was the result of inter-Korean military hostilities.

The Unification Ministry did report that it submitted a “revised plan” that differed slightly from a draft agreement presented on July 10. But the new agreement does not appear to have included any significant changes.

Commenting on this, the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers’ Party of (North) Korea, said the South Korean government was “going on about ‘trust’ in every sentence without taking active steps toward dialogue and cooperation.”

Pyongyang also responded through the web site Uriminzokkiri, criticizing the “internationalization” offered by the South Korean side as one of the chief tasks for normalization of the complex.

“The reason the Kaesong Complex deviated from its normal course is not because there were no foreign businesses or laws conforming to international norms,” it said.

A former senior Unification Ministry official familiar with the talks said on condition of anonymity that the status of the complex was “upgraded into a touchstone for inter-Korean relations going ahead.”

“But these are working-level talks between bureau director generals on the two sides, so I don’t think you’ll be finding an answer here,” the official added

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