Gaeseong Industrial Complex Operations Halted, Inter-Korean Ties Remain Strained

In the face of North Korea’s continued provocations, South Korea decided to suspend operations of the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North.

In the wake of the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and launch of a long-range missile in February, South Korea announced on February tenth that it was suspending the operation of the industrial park in the border city of Gaeseong.



In a statement, the government said the decision was made to stop cash from Gaeseong flowing into the North's nuclear and missile development and to prevent South Korean firms from being sacrificed.

As conditions for restarting the industrial complex, Seoul called on Pyongyang to ease concerns over its nuclear weapons and missile development and to create conditions for normal operations.

In response, the North took hardline measures, including expelling all South Korean workers from the industrial park and freezing all South Korean assets there. As a result, at around ten p.m. on February eleventh, all 280 South Korean citizens returned home from the Gaeseong complex. However, they left behind most of their equipment and materials. A couple hours later around midnight, South Korea cut off the supply of water and electricity to the industrial complex.



The halt in operations brought about significant losses for both sides of the border. More than 50-thousand North Koreans who worked in the complex lost their jobs and some North Koreans residing near the complex suffered inconvenience due to the power outage and cut in water supply. South Korean firms that had operated in the complex saw losses amounting to some one trillion won.

The government pushed forward with the suspension in operations out of concerns that Pyongyang funneled most of the money from the park into its weapons programs.

As a result, inter-Korean ties continued to remain strained this year with their channel for dialogue severed.

Photo : Yonhap News, KBS News

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