South Korea said Friday it will punish South Korean firms that have paid March wages to North Korean workers at a joint industrial park in the North in defiance of Seoul’s guidance.
The two Koreas have been embroiled in the wage dispute as North Korea unilaterally decided to hike the minimum monthly wage for about 53,000 North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the border city of the same name.
Seoul has requested its companies not to send out March paychecks, vowing to punish violators. Despite the warning, 49 out of 124 South Korean companies have paid the March wages to the North’s workers apparently out of threat by the North.
The South Korean government said that it plans to lay down “corresponding” punishment on such violators.
“Seoul is probing into the exact motive for the wage payment. Depending on the results, the government will definitely impose punitive actions on such companies,” said an official at the government, asking not to be named. He said that it is not clear whether all of the 49 firms will be punished.
The South has not accepted the North’s unilateral move, saying that Pyongyang violated a 2004 agreement that calls for the two sides to set the wages together. The wage cap has been set at 5 percent per year. Currently, the North is requesting for a 5.18 percent hike.
The two quasi-state committees from each side have not held the talks on the wage dispute since April 20.
The official said that there has been no reported slowdown or strike by North Korean workers even as most of their employers have not paid their wages.
The joint factory park, opened in 2004, is the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation. It has served as a major revenue source for the cash-strapped communist North, while South Korea has utilized cheap but skilled North Korean laborers. (Yonhap)
