hankyoreh

Oct. 30. (National Assembly photo pool)

By Lee Seung-jun, staff reporter

“Credit is a company’s lifeblood. But the long-term shutdown has left the credit here shattered like a broken jar.”

These were the words of Han Jae-kwon, head of an emergency committee set up to urge a full normalization of operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

“Before anything else, we need to see authorities from North and South declaring their solid commitment to developing the complex,” Han continued.

On Oct. 30, members of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and Vice Minister of Unification Kim Nam-shik visited the complex. Representatives of tenant companies came out in force to share the difficulties they have faced caused by the complex’s shutdown earlier this year. The companies made requests for efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and get operations at the complex back to normal.

The visit also marked the National Assembly standing committee’s first on-site inspection of the complex since it started operating in 2004, with members visiting to look at the condition of the newly reopened facilities and hear the complaints of tenant businesses.

A total of 47 people, including 21 members of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, paid visits to four tenant companies: molding and car parts maker Jaeyoung Solutech, shoemaker Samdeok Starfield, underwear company SK Apparel, and clothing company Shinwon.

The complex reopened on Sept. 16 after being shut down last March. But companies there complained of an uncertain business environment, with some buyers switching to other suppliers because of worsening relations with North Korea.

In particular, they asked the South and North Korean governments to take action to build buyer trust in the complex’s stability. “The complex’s operation rate was about 80% before the shutdown, but now it’s down to around 30% because the buyers have gone elsewhere,” said Kim Hak-kwon, chairman of Jaeyoung Solutech.

“The buyers are saying that they can’t trust the Kaesong Complex in the current environment,” he explained. “South and North both need to promote a clear sense of confidence in the complex to the outside.”

Some voiced other needs, including an emergency fund and/or special funding and assistance to resolve problems with transit, communications, and customs.

“We plan to provide suitable compensation to help the most crisis-stricken businesses feel more hopeful and not worry about going bankrupt,” said Han.

“I hope this visit can be a big step forward in developing inter-Korean relations,” he added.

Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee members from all political parties agreed on the need for the complex’s “future-oriented development.”

Saenuri Party (NFP) lawmaker Kim Young-woo told reporters covering the National Assembly that North and South Korea “need to make specific and practical efforts toward the Kaesong Complex’s internationalization.”

“I’d like to see us committing our efforts to bringing in investment and working quickly to hold investment briefings [for buyers]”, Kim added.

Democratic Party lawmaker Won Hye-young called on the administration to make efforts to ease the chill in relations with Pyongyang. “We need to build trust to avoid the Kaesong Complex being thrust into tensions again,” Won said.

“The May 24 measures are turning into shackles for us,” he added, referring to government measures to block trade and interchange with North Korea, taken in the wake of the 2010 sinking of the Cheonan warship.

Another lawmaker visiting the complex was the DP’s In Jae-keun, widow of former lawmaker Kim Keun-tae, who once served as chairman of the DP’s previous incarnation, the Uri Party.

Expressing her thoughts in a statement titled “The Kaesong Complex is peace and hope,” In said, “By going to the Kaesong Complex, I am following in the path of my husband and comrade Kim Keun-tae, who was a believer in democracy. In October 2006, Kim Keun-tae visited the Kaesong Complex with the conviction that ‘peace is what feeds us.’”

In lamented the fact that North and South Korean authorities have yet to make any breakthroughs in dialogue after a planned Oct. 31 joint investment briefing was cancelled, internationalization efforts have ground to a near halt, and reunions of separated families have been delayed indefinitely.

“I hope that this visit to the Kaesong Complex marks a starting point in solving the three major problems faced by tenant businesses and addressing major inter-Korean issues so that the complex can move forward in its future-oriented development,” she said.

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