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NORTH KOREA THIS WEEK NO. 493 (April 3, 2008)
*** INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS
N. Korea expels S. Korean officials from Kaesong industrial park
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- In apparent protest over the new Seoul administration's tough North Korea policy, the communist country expelled all South Korean government officials from their joint office in the Kaesong industrial complex on March 27.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has vowed to take a tough position on the North and link further inter-Korean cooperation projects to progress in international negotiations to denuclearize North Korea. The position is a stark departure from that of his two liberal predecessors, who refrained from criticizing the nuclear-armed state due to concern over the possibility of hindering reconciliation.
The expulsion follows Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong's recent remarks that it would be difficult to expand the complex without progress in the nuclear talks.
"The South Korean government pulled out all of its 11 officials residing in the Inter-Korean Exchanges and Cooperation Consultation Office in the Kaesong complex at about 1 a.m. on March 27 after the North demanded their withdrawal," Kim Ho-nyeon, spokesman for the Unification Ministry, said in a press briefing.
North Korea cited the minister's remarks as a reason for the demand, he said, adding that five South Korean civilians were still working at the Kaesong office. Pyongyang gave the officials three days to leave, and there was no physical clash in the process, according to other ministry officials.
"We express deep concern over the North's unilateral demand. All responsibility resulting from the measure lies with the North Korean side," Kim said. He called for Pyongyang to ensure an early return to normalcy at the joint office, warning that the incident may cause a delay in the development of the Kaesong industrial park.
Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho said in his meeting with reporters the government "will not come up with any 'carrot' measures to appease the North in relation to the incident, and has no intention to offer anything to the North."
The presidential office also expressed regret at the expulsion. "North Korea's abrupt act is regrettable and may pose an obstacle to the sustained development of inter-Korean relations," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said after an emergency meeting of related officials presided over by President Lee. "The (South Korean) government will deal with the Kaesong incident in accordance with its pragmatic policy. We'll thoroughly stick to the principle, though a flexible approach will be adopted."
A similar incident occurred in July 2006 when North Korea temporarily expelled three of nine South Korean officials stationed in Kaesong after Seoul suspended shipments of rice and fertilizer aid to protest Pyongyang's missile tests.
The Kaesong complex, located just north of the heavily armed inter-Korean border, is one of the key outcomes of the 2000 summit in which the leaders of the two Koreas reached an agreement on peace and reconciliation. Sixty-nine labor-intensive South Korean manufacturers are operating factories at the facility, employing about 24,000 North Korean workers. The two Koreas agreed to expand the complex at their second summit last year.
The Kaesong office opened in October 2005, becoming the first permanent inter-Korean consultative office to be established in North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. About 10 North Korean officials work in the office.
Multilateral talks on the North's denuclearization -- involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas -- have recently been stalled over a dispute on a declaration of the North's nuclear programs and proliferation activities that Pyongyang agreed to submit before the end of 2007.
Some North Korea experts, however, saw the expulsion as Pyongyang's message that it feels no need to sit around a dialogue table with Seoul as long as a conservative South Korean president is in office. "Departing from its earlier wait-and-see position, the North took an action to convey its intent not to cooperate with South Korea any longer," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, by phone.
South Korea's liberal parties showed regret over the expulsion, but blamed the Lee administration for the crisis. "The symbol of reconciliation efforts between the two Koreas has been put at risk due mainly to the Lee administration's unripe North Korea policy," said Yoo Jong-pil, spokesman for the main opposition United Democratic Party. "It is also regretful that the North Korean authorities have taken such an emotional action which will be beneficial to neither the South nor the North."
The minor opposition Democratic Labor Party has also criticized the Lee government for damaging the momentum of inter-Korean cooperation by unveiling a hostile policy toward the North. "It is sad to see that our initial concerns of facing a setback in the inter-Korean relationship under the new government have been proven right," party spokeswoman Woo Moo-suk said. "The Lee government must not cause further concerns by relating inter-Korean cooperation to the United States' stance on the North."
But the ruling Grand National Party refrained from making strong comments. "The Kaesong industrial complex is not a product of unilateral aid from the South, but that of cooperative action between the two Koreas," said the party's spokesperson, Cho Yoon-sun. "The office should be normalized immediately."
(END)
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