|
North Korea is apparently trying to pressure the South over cross-border propaganda leaflets by threatening closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The Unification Ministry on Sunday said the North Korean government sent Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-Chol, a top policy maker at the National Defense Commission, to the industrial complex on Nov. 6 to carry out an unprecedented inspection.
Kim, who is the head of the North Korea delegation on the inter-Korean generals¡¯ meeting, inspected the facility including the water purification facility with officials from the 11 South Korean companies there, and asked questions about the number of South and North Korean employees, their salaries and working conditions. Kim reported asked questions like ¡°How long would it take for the South Korean firms to pull out?¡± and remarked, ¡°There is no need to talk about this anymore when we already have our rules set out.¡± This has been read as the first step toward ordering the South Korean companies to withdraw. Since early October, North Korea has been threatening to halt operation of the complex because of propaganda leaflets some South Korean civic groups are sending across the border.
But government officials and experts on North Korea think it will not be easy for North Korea to play the Kaesong card anytime soon, because it would not be helpful at a time when U.S. president-elect Barack Obama looks willing to engage in direct high-level dialogue with the North.
North Korean authorities told the South Korean firms that would be fine to publish news of inspection in the South Korean press, suggesting that the North is playing a ¡°psychological game,¡± according to Prof. Nam Joo-hong of Kyonggi University.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
