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| Factory Park Is Subject Of Meeting By 2 Koreas | Factory Park Is Subject Of Meeting By 2 Koreas |
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| SEOUL, South Korea — Officials from South and North Korea met on their border on Saturday to discuss reopening a jointly operated industrial park and see if they were ready to move toward a thaw after months of tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. | SEOUL, South Korea — Officials from South and North Korea met on their border on Saturday to discuss reopening a jointly operated industrial park and see if they were ready to move toward a thaw after months of tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. |
| The Kaesong industrial park, just north of the heavily armed border, had been the last and best-known joint project of economic cooperation between the North and South until the North pulled out all its 53,000 workers in April. The South responded by withdrawing its factory managers and engineers. | The Kaesong industrial park, just north of the heavily armed border, had been the last and best-known joint project of economic cooperation between the North and South until the North pulled out all its 53,000 workers in April. The South responded by withdrawing its factory managers and engineers. |
| Both Koreas have since locked themselves in a tense standoff that has also become a test of wills for the two relatively new governments in the North and South. | Both Koreas have since locked themselves in a tense standoff that has also become a test of wills for the two relatively new governments in the North and South. |
| The North has frequently threatened to shut down the complex for good. The industrial park had been the only successful economic project of its kind for the isolated North. Its permanent closing would not only deprive North Korea of an important source of badly needed hard currency but also could scare away foreign investors that its young leader, Kim Jong-un, wanted to attract. | The North has frequently threatened to shut down the complex for good. The industrial park had been the only successful economic project of its kind for the isolated North. Its permanent closing would not only deprive North Korea of an important source of badly needed hard currency but also could scare away foreign investors that its young leader, Kim Jong-un, wanted to attract. |
| The conservative South Korean government, whose tough stand on North Korea remains popular among its people, insists that it has no intention of reopening the factory park unless North Korea convinces the South that it will never again shut it down arbitrarily by citing political reasons. But the Kaesong complex remained the last remaining toehold for South Korea’s efforts to use economic cooperation to help the North open up and move eventually toward the reunification of the peninsula. | The conservative South Korean government, whose tough stand on North Korea remains popular among its people, insists that it has no intention of reopening the factory park unless North Korea convinces the South that it will never again shut it down arbitrarily by citing political reasons. But the Kaesong complex remained the last remaining toehold for South Korea’s efforts to use economic cooperation to help the North open up and move eventually toward the reunification of the peninsula. |
| Time is running out for both governments. With the onset of the rainy season, factory managers said that their idled facilities would start deteriorating unless they were restarted soon. | |
| Last week, they urged the two Korean governments to reopen the complex soon or allow them to disassemble their facilities and relocate them elsewhere in Asia. | |
| During the meeting on Saturday, North Korean officials insisted that the two sides first discuss allowing South Korean engineers to return to Kaesong for maintenance work on their long-idled plants, according to a pool report by South Korean journalists from the border village of Panmunjom, the site of the talks. | During the meeting on Saturday, North Korean officials insisted that the two sides first discuss allowing South Korean engineers to return to Kaesong for maintenance work on their long-idled plants, according to a pool report by South Korean journalists from the border village of Panmunjom, the site of the talks. |
| “Most urgent is how we prevent the damage from the monsoon season,” the report quoted Pak Chol-su, the chief North Korean delegate, as saying. | “Most urgent is how we prevent the damage from the monsoon season,” the report quoted Pak Chol-su, the chief North Korean delegate, as saying. |
| But South Korea called on the North to honor “norms in international business,” pressing North Korea for a guarantee that it would never use the joint economic project as a political bargaining tool. | |
| It also demanded that it first allow South Korean factory owners to retrieve back finished goods and raw materials from Kaesong to help relieve their financial difficulties. | |
| “The North must clarify its position on the damage it had caused by unilaterally shutting down the industrial complex and must provide a clear assurance that it will never happen again,” the South Korean pool report quoted Suh Ho, the chief South Korean delegate, as saying. | “The North must clarify its position on the damage it had caused by unilaterally shutting down the industrial complex and must provide a clear assurance that it will never happen again,” the South Korean pool report quoted Suh Ho, the chief South Korean delegate, as saying. |
| The talks on Saturday came a month after both Koreas had canceled cabinet-level talks last month amid mutual recriminations over who should lead their delegations. The meeting on Saturday was attended by lower-ranking representatives. | |
| On the eve of the talks, South Korea allowed three North Korean fishermen to return home on Friday through Panmunjom. A South Korean commercial ship rescued them on Wednesday when it found them adrift after their boat capsized off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, officials from the South said. | On the eve of the talks, South Korea allowed three North Korean fishermen to return home on Friday through Panmunjom. A South Korean commercial ship rescued them on Wednesday when it found them adrift after their boat capsized off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, officials from the South said. |
| Also on Friday, South Korea said that the North Korean women’s national soccer team would travel here for an East Asia Cup tournament this month. It will be the first time North Korean athletes have played on South Korean soil since 2009. | |
| The Kaesong complex, where 123 textile and other labor-intensive factories from the South hired low-cost North Korean labor, had been in operation for eight years until North Korea unilaterally pulled out its workers. The North blamed rising military tension, citing the tightening of international sanctions after its nuclear test in February and joint annual American-South Korean military exercises as sign of South Korean and American hostilities. |