North Korea has averted its ban on the entry of two South Korean officials into the Gaesong Industrial Complex, the Unification Ministry said Friday.
Just days ago, the North notified the South of its sudden decision to deny access to the two, including a vice chairman of the South’s committee on the inter-Korean facilities near the border.
The reclusive North did not clarify the reason for the measure amid speculation that it may be trying to gain leverage in the upcoming talks on the land use fee for South Korean firms operating in the zone.
The North informed the South verbally of the lifting of the limited access ban but it did not elaborate, said the ministry.
“Fortunately, the North recanted its previous decision,” ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee, said in a regular press briefing. “Every issue related to the operation of the complex should be resolved through dialogue. We hope there will be no repetition of such an incident.”
A total of 124 South Korean small and medium-size enterprises operate factories in the industrial park, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation.
It has served as a major revenue source for the cash-strapped North, while South Korea has utilized cheap but skilled North Korean labor by hiring about 54,000 North Koreans workers.
Ending a months-long wage dispute, the two sides agreed in August to raise the minimum wage for the North’s workers by 5 percent to $73.87 per month.
But the two Koreas will soon begin talks on how much the South Korean firms at the complex should pay as a land use fee with the decade-long exemption for the sort of “tax” expires this year. (Yonhap)
