South and North Korea were to have talks on a joint industrial park in the North on Thursday in a bid to resolve a prolonged dispute over Pyongyang’s unilateral move to hike wages for its workers.
The two sides plan to hold a meeting of a joint committee in charge of running Gaeseong Industrial Park in the North’s border city of the same name, the first since June last year, according to the Unification Ministry.
South and North Korea have been embroiled in a months-long wage row as Pyongyang has unilaterally raised the minimum wage by 5.18 percent to $74 per month for about 55,000 North Korean workers at the park. A total of 124 South Korean small businesses are running factories at the complex.
“We hope the two sides can resolve pending issues so that the talks can pave the way for developing the complex into one with global competitiveness,” Jeong Joon-hee, the ministry spokesman, told a press briefing held on Wednesday.
The joint factory park, opened in 2004, is 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 laborers.
The operation of the complex has been highly swayed by the level of tension on a divided peninsula. In April 2013, the North unilaterally shut down the park for about four months.
Following the suspension of the factory zone, the two Koreas decided to set up the joint committee on the factory park in August 2013.
The committee is an integral part of a deal that called for reopening the complex and adopting safeguards to prevent any work stoppages in the future. The committee has not been held since June last year due to the North’s refusal.
Seoul has rejected Pyongyang’s unilateral move for the wage hike, saying that it is in breach of a 2004 agreement that calls for the two sides to set wages through consultations. The wage cap has been set at 5 percent per year.
In what could be a temporary relief, North Korea accepted South Korea’s tentative offer in late May to pay wages at the current level of $70.35, allowing the two sides to buy time for talks on the wage issue.
Meanwhile, the ministry earlier said that Pyongyang has sent a notice to Seoul saying that it will strengthen its monitoring of South Koreans who move in and out of the complex.
The North is known to have voiced complaints over activities by South Koreans including possession of goods banned in the North such as USBs and newspapers, vowing to take punitive actions if found.
The South said that the issue should be dealt with in accordance with the two sides’ consultations and related regulations. (Yonhap)
