hankyoreh

heads of the South and North Korean delegations to the seventh round of talks on normalizing operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

The overall worsening of relations between Seoul and Pyongyang is preventing progress at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The “constructive normalization” of the complex, which resumed operations on Sept. 16, has been put on hold with no sign of a breakthrough.

The forming of the traffic, communication, and customs subcommittee, the focus of “constructive normalization”, has been delayed. In addition, no announcement has been made about the investment briefing for foreign companies, which is supposed to be held on Oct. 31.

The Unification Ministry indicated on Oct. 7 that North and South have not held any meetings of the joint committee for the complex or its four subcommittees since Sept. 26, when the customs and sojourn subcommittee convened for the final time. No future meetings have been scheduled either.

During the Sept. 26 meeting of the customs and sojourn subcommittee, discussion took place about the “legal protection” for South Koreans who are involved with accidents or incidents inside North Korea, but no progress was reportedly made.

The meeting of the traffic, communication, and admission subcommittee, which had been originally scheduled for Sept. 26, did not take place. The day before, North Korea notified the South that it was delaying the meeting.

As a result, no discussion is taking place on various matters, including multiple entries during a single day, access to mobile networks and the internet, and simplification of the admission procedure.

In regard to traffic and communication equipment, restrictions on bringing items into the North is quite strict because of UN sanctions on North Korea.

The subcommittee for international competitiveness, which is connected with internationalization, another key aspect of normalization of the complex, has also not held meetings.

While North and South are scheduled to hold a joint investor briefing for foreign companies on Oct. 31, no notice has been sent out about the briefing, and the organizers have not been able to accept any registrations from foreign companies.

Furthermore, since internationalization of the Kaesong complex is connected to the May 24 measures against North Korea, it is unclear whether the investor briefing will even take place at all.

In addition to this, the investment protection, management, and operation subcommittee, which deals with issues of wages and taxes, has yet to meet even once.

In addition, the Kaesong joint committee, which convened three times during negotiations for reopening the complex, has not met a single time since an agreement was reached to resume operations.

At the moment, all of the inter-Korean deliberative bodies, with the exception of the joint committee secretariat, are on hold.

Experts are questioning whether North Korea may not be content with only “normalization,” without any plans for further development.

“North Korea wanted to resume tourism at Mt. Keumgang, and the South Korean government did not go along,” said Korea University professor Yoo Ho-yeol. “Even on the Kaesong Complex, where North Korea has a lot to offer, it seems to be saying it wants to keep things at their past levels.”

Some suggested the complex could be affected by an overall decline in inter-Korean relations.

“North and South are involved in a pretty heated war of words right now,” said Dongguk University professor Kim Yong-hyun. “Things will need to improve in the broader scheme of inter-Korean relations if we hope to ensure stable development for the Kaesong complex.”

Addressing these concerns, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ui-do said that while no joint committee or subcommittee meetings have taken place since Sept. 26, the joint committee’s secretariat has been in continuous discussions.

“We aren’t having meetings at the moment because there are lot of things that we need to prepare, including equipment and things like that,” Kim explained. “This does not in any way mean that discussions between North and South for the complex’s development have stopped.”

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