NORTH and South Korea reopened their jointly run industrial complex yesterday, reviving a lone symbol of economic cooperation five months after it was shuttered amid the North’s threats of preemptive nuclear attack.
Thousands of North Korean workers were returning to the Gaeseong zone, located north of the border. From the South, more than 500 trucks, vans and cars formed a bottleneck at a checkpoint at the heavily armed border, carrying supplies and company executives to the site to restart factories. More than 120 companies operate at Gaeseong, including watchmaker Romanson Co, and Shinwon Corp, an apparel maker.
“My heart’s in a flutter now that Gaeseong is restarting,” Lee Mun Yong, who works for South Korean cellular phone parts maker Jaeyoung Solutec Co Ltd, said near the checkpoint.
“North Korean workers are looking both relieved to have their jobs back and determined to work harder. The past five months has been a time of crisis for them.”
North Korea pulled its 53,000 workers out of Gaeseong in April, capping months of tensions after it conducted a third nuclear test in February and threatened preemptive attacks when the United Nations stepped up sanctions and the US and South Korea held annual military drills. Gaeseong has provided Kim Jong Un’s regime with much-needed hard currency and been a source of cheap labor for South Korean companies.
“It would not have been easy for North Korea to give up Gaeseong because it’s a valuable source of hard currency,” Choi Chang Ryul, a professor of liberal arts at Yong In University near Seoul and a political commentator, said by phone.
At the border, a line of people formed at a currency exchange booth run by Woori Bank, changing South Korean won for US dollars, the only currency that can be used at Gaeseong. Other South Korean workers shook hands and laughed as they chatted in groups inside the transit office.
“I’m glad I’m finally returning after so many twists and turns,” said Shin Han Yong, president of Shinhan Trading, which produces fishing nets at Gaeseong. — Bloomberg