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Seoul, Washington to discuss Gaeseong reopening

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US President Donald Trump talks with President Moon Jae-in in the Korean Demilitarized Zone and views North Korea from Observation Post Ouellette at Camp Bonifas in South Korea, Sunday, June 30. AP-Yonhap
US President Donald Trump talks with President Moon Jae-in in the Korean Demilitarized Zone and views North Korea from Observation Post Ouellette at Camp Bonifas in South Korea, Sunday, June 30. AP-Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

Nuclear negotiators of South Korea and the United States are set to discuss the possible reopening of now-shuttered Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea through the upcoming working-level talks on North Korea's denuclearization, officials at the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said Sunday.

"South Korea unofficially sent a message about the normalization of the Gaeseong joint border industrial park to North Korea. The North has yet to respond. However, Seoul will be working on how to come to an agreement on conditions, terms and other differentiations with the United States about reopening the complex," a DPK lawmaker who is involved with the matter said by telephone.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the inter-Korean border of Panmunjeom to continue nuclear diplomacy with the goal of striking a "comprehensive good deal."

"South Korea doesn't want to see a grand reopening of the complex as we plan to cooperate with the United States and North Korea within the framework of international sanctions. If new conditions are set, then changes will be possible," the DPK lawmaker said.

With the Mount Geumgang tourism project, the Gaeseong complex had been a lucrative source of cash for the impoverished North. At the height of its operation, the Gaeseong project brought the North an estimated $110 million both in wages and fees, according to a 2016 statement released by the government. But the resumption of the park could violate the United Nations sanctions banning the transfer of "bulk cash" to the North.

"A partial reopening of the complex is possible upon the development of the denuclearization talks. To guarantee safety, we have to secure some detailed preventive measures for unintended collateral damage like sanctions violations," another DPK lawmaker said.

South Korea's unification ministry said last week it will discuss several options regarding the reopening of the complex "if conditions are set."

Because money earned from the operations is fungible, hawks and opponents of the Gaeseong park quickly noted that these funds could be used to help North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Moreover, since the money earned there is legal, it can be used to launder who knows how much of the North's illicit gains from smuggling and so on, said Robert Kelly, a professor of international studies at Busan National University.

"North Korea will almost certainly still seal off the facility, demand direct payment in dollars, vigorously police any market or liberalization spill-over into the surrounding community, and so on. A reopening would raise the same problems all over again ― lots of easy money to keep the regime afloat with little to show for it and tension with the Americans over this as sanctions-busting," he said.

Last week's Panmunjeom encounter between Trump and Kim has suggested growing flexibility and the need to pursue an "incremental approach" on the part of both North Korea and the United States.

Earlier, a group of former Gaeseong complex visited the United States to pitch the idea of the resumption of the complex. But U.S government officials were still reluctant to reopen the complex.



Kim Yoo-chul yckim@koreatimes.co.kr


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