Related News
Kaesong park to restart soon
Print Edition
North and South Korea have agreed to restart operations at a jointly run factory park that Pyongyang shut down in April, the latest sign of easing animosity between the rivals.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said operations at the industrial park, located just north of the heavily armed border separating the two Koreas, would resume sometime after a trial run due to start on Monday.
The Koreas also plan reunions this month of families divided by the Korean War, and last week restored a military communications channel at the border.
Yesterday’s agreement follows through on a development last month, when, after seven rounds of talks, one of which ended in a scuffle, the Koreas agreed they would work toward opening the factory park.
The complex in North Korea’s third-largest city, Kaesong, was the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation until Pyongyang pulled out its 53,000 workers.
The Unification Ministry said South Korean companies at Kaesong would be exempt from paying taxes imposed for operations this year.
The two Koreas also plan to hold an international investors’ information session at Kaesong in October in a bid to attract foreign companies to the park.
Chief South Korean delegate Kim Kiwoong said the two Koreas hope to begin providing Internet and mobile phone connections to the park soon.
North Korea’s state media later confirmed that work would restart at Kaesong.
The industrial park combined South Korean initiative, capital and technology with cheap North Korean labor. It was also a rare source of hard currency for North Korea.
The shutdown has also been hard on South Korean entrepreneurs who invested up to 10 years and millions of dollars in Kaesong and were forced to wait, their assembly lines idle, while the governments negotiated.
Kaesong hosted small and medium-sized, labor-intensive industries, often clothing and electronics companies. Last year, its factories produced goods worth US$470 million.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
