[Cankor] Report #243

[cankor at cankor.ca]

Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #243 of the CanKor Report.

None of our readers felt inspired to respond to the question in last
week's QUIDNUNC:
Has the Six-Party Talks process run its course?

Still hoping for an answer to that question, we nevertheless pose a new one:
Was it a mistake for EU countries and Canada to establish diplomatic
relations with the DPRK in the wake of the Inter-Korean summit of 2000?

Please send your answer (maximum 150 words) to: editor at CanKor.ca

The CanKor team.

For articles not original to CanKor, direct links are available in the
Contents section, should you wish to consult the originals on the internet.

If the links no longer function, you may refer to the full text articles
appended to the issue.

For back issues, archives and other content, please visit our website:
http://www.cankor.ca
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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

CanKor # 243

Friday, 29 March 2006
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A DPR Korean company official and his family arrive in Seoul after
seeking asylum at the RO Korean embassy in Hungary.

The ROK and the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) join
forces to improve the health of infants and to build the capacity of the
DPRK’s medical establishment. This cooperation is anticipated to help
improve perceptions regarding transparency in the ROK’s provision of aid
to its northern neighbour.

The Koreas begin construction of a major water treatment facility in
Kaesong. Upon completion in 2007, the facility will supply 60,000 tons
of water daily for the Kaesong Industrial Complex and DPR Korean households.

Despite the current freeze in the Six Party Talks, the ROK forges ahead
with inter-Korean projects in all sectors. The rationale is that future
prosperity in the region depends on the establishment of “a system for
peace, North-South economic cooperation, and the development of the rule
of law." This week’s CanKor FOCUS reviews the progress of this process.
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Contents:
1. DEFECTIONS CHILL INTER-KOREAN TIES
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/article_1150639.php/Defections_chill_inter-Korea_ties

2. ROK AND WHO SIGN PACT WORTH $20 MILLION FOR AID TO DPRK
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200603/kt2006032818063511990.htm

3. US ENVOY ASKS ILO TO INSPECT KAESONG WORKERS' RIGHTS
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060331/630000000020060331100758E9.html

FOCUS: Setting the stage for “Peace and Prosperity”
4. SEOUL SETS PLANS FOR A PEACE REGIME WITH NORTH
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060301-113820-8624r

5. ANOTHER BREED OF POLITICS IN KOREA
http://www.worldpress.org/print_article.cfm?article_id=2377&dont=yes

6. KOREAS EXPAND PROJECTS IN TOURISM AND CULTURE
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200603/28/200603282157362539900090409041.html

7. KOREAS BUILD WATER PURIFICATION FACILITY IN KAESONG
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/default.stm

QUIDNUNC: Readers ask and respond to common and uncommon questions
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1. DEFECTIONS CHILL INTER-KOREA TIES
by Jong-Heon Lee, UPI, Mar 28, 2006, 17:27 GMT printer

A defection by a North Korean state company official to South Korea is
expected to further chill inter-Korean relations which have already been
under strain over Seoul’s military drills. North Korea has strongly
protested at Seoul’s granting of asylum to refugee-seekers, and often
accused South Korea of kidnapping them, cutting off cross-border
dialogue channels. On Tuesday, an official in North Korea’s state-run
company in Europe and his family arrived in Seoul for resettlement after
seeking asylum in Hungary. The official and his three family members
took refugee at the South Korean embassy in Budapest on March 22.

The North Korean was earlier reported to be a diplomat, but officials at
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry denied it, saying he had worked for a North
Korean state-owned company in an unidentified European country. It was
not known immediately whether the defector was working at the state
company with a diplomatic passport. Officials declined to provide
details, saying the defectors are under investigation by the state
intelligence agency.

According to Seoul’s news reports, North Korea requested that the
Hungarian government detain the asylum seekers, but South Korean
diplomats there persuaded the Hungarian government to allow them to seek
asylum in Seoul. It is rare for North Koreans to seek asylum in South
Korea’s diplomatic missions in Europe. If the defector is found to be a
diplomat, it will be the first time that a North Korean diplomat has
taken refugee in South Korea since October 2000, when Hong Sun Gyung, a
councilor at the North Korean embassy in Thailand, arrived in Seoul.

In recent years, many North Koreans have attempted to find political
asylum by forcing their way into the diplomatic compound in Beijing
after crossing the long border with China. Beijing has generally allowed
them to fly to South Korea via a third country to avoid international
criticism for its human rights standards. But as China has recently
intensified a crackdown on North Korean refugee-seekers in the face of
protests from Pyongyang, North Koreans are now making their way to
Southeast Asian countries, hoping eventually to go to South Korea.

On March 19, five North Koreans defected to the South after crossing the
tense sea border off the peninsula’s east coast in a wooden boat.
Defections by sea and land from the North are rare because the border is
heavily fortified and guarded by hundreds of thousands of North Korean
troops.

Some 7,700 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the
1950-53 Korean War. A total of 1,387 defectors arrived in the South last
year, 1,894 in 2004 and 1,139 reported in 2003. North Korea made no
immediate response to Tuesday’s defection, but is likely to worsen ties
with the South in protest. The North had cut off all official dialogue
channels since the airlift of more than 460 North Korean refugees from
Vietnam to the South in July 2004. The North resumed contacts with the
South only after Seoul’s promise of economic aid to the impoverished
communist country hit the by an outbreak of bird flu.

In an indirect protest to the defection, North Korea on Tuesday warned
that inter-Korean relations would worsen, or even come to a complete
stop, citing Seoul’s joint military exercises with the United States.
South Korea is engaged in annual military exercise with the United
States, and the next round is to start Saturday. North Korea has
denounced the drills as 'preparations for preemptive nuclear attack' on
the communist country.

'To stage joint military exercises with foreign forces is a treacherous
act of hampering national reconciliation and unity and bedeviling the
North-South relations,' said Rodong Sinmun, the North’s state-run
newspaper. Inter-Korean relations would face 'turns and twists,' the
newspaper said, warning it may scrap a joint tour project in a North
Korean mountain resort. 'The worsening of inter-Korean relations will
not benefit the South Korean authorities themselves,' Seoul’s Yonhap
News Agency quoted the daily as saying.

South-North relations were already strained last week after North Korean
officials censored South Korean reports on temporary reunions of
separated family members held in the North’s Mount Kumgang resort. North
Korean officials blocked the transmission of reports by Seoul’s SBS-TV,
objecting to the words 'abduction' and 'seizure' in reports referring to
South Koreans kidnapped by the North.

As the South Korean media refused the North’s call to leave the country,
the North detained visiting South Korean family members, mostly in their
70s or older, for almost 10 hours. The South Korean press corps left the
communist country protesting against its censorship. It was the first
time a press corps had withdrawn from the other’s territory since the
two Koreas began official cross-border dialogue in 1971.
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2. ROK AND WHO SIGN PACT WORTH $20 MILLION FOR AID TO DPRK
by Seo Dong-shin, Korea Times, 28 March 2006

The government will provide North Korea with some $20 million in the
next two years through a specialized United Nations health agency to
help improve the health conditions of babies and children in the
communist country. Minister of Unification Lee Jong-seok Tuesday signed
a pact with Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the World Health
Organization (WHO), to cement the aid plan at the ministry in Seoul.

Under the accord, some $5 million of cash and materials worth some $ 5.6
million will be funneled to the North via the WHO this year. WHO will
focus on the tasks in the north such as preventing disease and death of
newborn babies, improving skills of medical staff and refurbishing
hospitals, a ministry spokesman said. WHO, which will conduct monitoring
of the activities in cooperation with the north’s health ministry, is
also to submit its quarterly reports to the Unification Ministry in Seoul.

“The cooperation with the WHO will help improve perceptions regarding
transparency in providing aid to North Korea in international society,”
a ministry spokesman said. “It will also improve the level of medical
service in the North from a long-term perspective, which would help
activate development aid in health and hygiene, unlike one-off emergency
aid,” the spokesman said. Seoul has been mulling over aiding the north
in cooperation with international agencies such as WHO and UNICEF since
last year.

Former Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo told reporters in a
briefing last month that the government has been reviewing such
possibilities since some 2.3 million North Korean children, age five or
under, are estimated to be in seriously poor health due to the long-term
food shortage. North Korean children are estimated to be some 20
centimeters shorter, 10 kilograms lighter than their South Korean
counterparts, Rhee said citing statistics available at the World Food
Program. Infant mortality is also said to be about nine times higher in
the North than the South, according to statistics.
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3. US ENVOY ASKS ILO TO INSPECT KAESONG WORKERS' RIGHTS
by Lee Dong-min, Yonhap, 30 March 2006

A US presidential envoy on Thursday raised concerns about an
inter-Korean economic zone and called for an international inspection of
its working conditions. Jay Lefkowitz, appointed to handle North Korean
human rights, warned against unrestricted and unmonitored aid to the
communist country which he said would only help continue the dire
conditions in North Korea. In a rare public lecture, the envoy said the
"jury is still out" on the Kaesong industrial complex, a zone
established just north of the inter-Korean border combining the capital
of South Korean companies with North Korea's cheap labor.

"But the real question for the international community is, should we be
imposing and insisting on fair treatment for the workers, for the goods
that are going to be sold internationally," he said in a lecture at the
American Enterprise Institute. "What we know about what goes on in
Kaesong, in light of North Korea's track record, I think creates a
presumption of concern," he said. "I would submit that at a minimum,
North Korea should allow an independent party such as the International
Labor Organization to inspect and assess Kaesong and report its findings
to the UN."

Lefkowitz, appointed under the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004, is
tasked with making and implementing an action plan for improving the
conditions of a nation the US labels as one of the most oppressive
regimes run by a dictator who demands unchallenged and unshared loyalty.
The envoy said he wanted concerted pressure, especially by Asian
countries, to bring about change in the North, to "force open the veil."
They must avoid policies that help North Korea perpetuate the present
conditions, he said. "What is counterproductive is in the area of
unrestricted humanitarian aid," he said. "When countries provide,
without proper monitoring, they are not necessarily helping the situation."

North Korea, which lived off international handouts for the past decade,
declared last year it had enough food to feed its people and told the UN
World Food Program to leave. South Korea and China have been the biggest
aid providers to the North, and critics often blame them for not
attaching needed conditions such as making sure the food assistance
reaches the hungry population rather than the military and the handful
of elites. The North Korea Human Rights Act calls for US acceptance of
North Korean refugees, and Lefkowitz said there was significant progress
in that respect.

"I think we've been able to resolve the domestic hurdles," he said, "I
think we are certainly prepared to accept North Korean refugees."

No North Korean refugees have been granted entry to the USA, mostly due
to security concerns. Lefkowitz said Seoul had its own concerns, telling
the USA that North Korea dispatches agents disguised as refugees. There
is also progress in getting Asian countries to cooperate, he said.

"One of the challenges is finding appropriate places to screen and
process and assess potential refugees to the USA, but I think we are
making a great deal of progress in that area," he said. Lefkowitz
described as "tactical" the different approaches by Seoul and Washington
on North Korean human rights issues. "I am not sure that from a tactical
approach they (South Korea) are doing everything I would be recommending
to them," the envoy said. "I think their overall long-term objective is
the same as ours," he said.
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FOCUS: Setting the Stage for “Peace and Prosperity”

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4. SEOUL SETS PLANS FOR A PEACE REGIME WITH NORTH
by Sekai Nippo, World Peace Herald, 1 March 2006

South Korea has succeeded in executing significant portions of its plan
for North-South economic exchanges. Its basic strategy now is to promote
exchanges with the North without regard to the political obstacles that
may arise. To promote such exchanges in a stable environment, the Seoul
government has decided it needs to ease military tensions along the
ceasefire line that has divided the two Koreas for more than 50 years
and construct a regime of peace. The government sees 2012 as the target
year for completing this task.

Last year, South Korea's National Intelligence Service set up an office
devoted to devising an economic development plan for North Korea. To
staff the office, it recruited experts in intelligence, economics, and
finance. In addition, the Ministry of Unification placed small "help
wanted" ads in a number of national newspapers for lawyers and people
with degrees in political science or economics. Like the NIS, the
Unification Ministry was trying to recruit people who would draw up a
plan to "establish a system for peace, North-South economic cooperation,
and the development of the rule of law."

Most observers believe that these efforts to recruit experts by these
two government departments are aimed at developing a proposal for
North-South economic cooperation that will be significantly more
comprehensive that what is now in effect. The proposal is expected to be
an attempt to establish an economic zone in the next 7 to 8 years that
will encompass not only North and South Korea but also some regions of
China and Russia.

The biggest obstacle to promoting such North-South exchange is the
military confrontation between the two sides. South Korea is expected at
some point to propose a mutual reduction of military forces deployed
along the Demilitarized Zone. One major difficulty in this is that North
Korea's policy has been not to recognize South Korea as being a
qualified party to negotiate such a deal.
North Korea notes that, according to the current agreement between
Washington and Seoul, the commander of US Forces Korea will have
operational command authority over the joint forces of the United States
and South Korea in wartime. In such a situation, South Korea will not
have the authority to deploy its own troops as it wishes.

The US and South Korea discussed the issue of transferring wartime
operational command authority to Seoul at their annual security
consultation held last October. Subsequently, the South Korean monthly
news magazine "Shin Dong-A" reported that Lee Jong Suk, then deputy
secretary general of the National Security Council (NSC) and now
Unification Minister, told South Korean reporters off the record that
that he expected this transfer to take place "before 2015."

In March 2005, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun commented on the
timing of the transfer in an address during the graduation ceremony of
the country's air force academy, saying, "Within the next ten years, the
[South Korean] military will become an independent military force with
its own operational authority." This was understood to include the
reduction and withdrawal of US troops now stationed in South Korea.
Transferring wartime operational command authority may be difficult as
long as the issue of North Korea's nuclear arms issue remains unresolved.

The six-party talks are currently in recess. In the forth round of the
talks held in September 2005, North Korea achieved a number of
objectives, including the right to peaceful use of nuclear power, a
promise that light water reactors would be constructed on its territory
in exchange for its abandoning its nuclear weapons program, a US
commitment to peaceful coexistence, a US confirmation that it does not
intend to attack North Korea, and a promise for 2 million kilowatts of
electricity.

Following these developments, the Strategic Planning Office of South
Korea's National Security Council forecast that the verification of
North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons program could be expected to
take two to five years, depending the level of cooperation by Pyongyang.
In other words, it considered the early part of the decade following
2010 to be a realistic date for completing the verification.

The term of President Roh Moo Hyun expires in February 2008, and the
constitution does not allow him to serve a second term. So, the
president must foresee that the policy that expected to bring
fundamental change to the Korean peninsula's security will only be
completed during the term of his successor.
A scenario is emerging that South Korea's next government will begin to
tackle issues such as a loose federation of North and South and a
general election covering the two sides.

Under the constitution, Roh's successor will be elected to a single
five-year term ending in February 2013. So in reality, these issues will
need to be resolved before the end of 2012. Chung Dong Young, president
of the South Korea's ruling Uri Party, a former Unification Minister and
a major contender to succeed Roh, has raised the issue of revising parts
of the South Korean constitution that define the entire Korean peninsula
as territory of the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name. The
thinking goes that South Korea must officially recognize North Korea as
a legitimate government before there can be talk of a loose federation
encompassing the two sides.

All such preparations need to be completed by around 2012. That year
happens to be the 100th anniversary of the birth of former North Korean
President Kim IL Sung. Many believe that North Korea hopes to achieve
its goal for a federation with the South by that year. President Roh has
set "creating a regime of peace on the Korean peninsula" as his
government's security policy goal for 2006, and placed Unification
Minister Lee in the key position for achieving this.
Lee is expected to be involved in issues related to North-South economic
exchanges, the transfer of wartime operational command authority from
the US and the inspection of North Korea's nuclear facilities. Lee has
also been appointed to the executive committee of the National Security
Council.
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5. ANOTHER BREED OF POLITICS IN KOREA
by Erik Mobrand, World Press, 3 February 2006

As the United States prepares sanctions against North Korea for
counterfeiting, South Korea has welcomed in the year of the dog with a
breed of "unification dogs." After accusing Pyongyang of counterfeiting
millions of dollars of US currency, Washington has called on Seoul to
commit to financial sanctions against the North. South Korean leaders,
not eager to disturb prospects for another round of six-party talks on
North Korea's nuclear weapons, have dismissed the US request.

The South Korean stance highlights the diverging approaches to North
Korea taken by Seoul and Washington. While US leaders worry about the
security implications of the Kim Jong Il regime's illicit activities,
South Koreans have been preparing for peaceful unification of the
peninsula, bracing themselves for a transition that many ardently desire.

Five years ago, South Korean dog breeder Sung Kwang-soo hit on the idea
of matching choice specimens of a North Korean breed with those of a
South Korean breed. Their offspring, to be known as unification dogs,
would embody the nation's wish for peaceful unification of the
peninsula, South Korean news source YTN reported on Jan. 29.

Sung selected two top breeds, one hailing from Poongsan in North Korea
and the other from Jindo on the southern extreme of South Korea. Eight
male Poongsan dogs were then joined with 14 Jindo dogs. The Poongsan
breed, a type of hound, is known on the peninsula for its courage and
calm nature. Poongsan dogs have even been said to track tigers. Their
South Korean cousins, also brave, are famous for being clever and
obedient to their masters. The breeder hoped that their offspring would
inherit both sets of attributes from their distinguished progenitors.
Since the canine unification project began in May of 2001, six mixed
couples have produced some 200 unification dogs.

While less famous than Snoopy, the cloned dog whose life proves that the
work of disgraced geneticist Hwang Woo-suk was not all phony, the
unification puppies also stand as symbols of national spirit. For South
Koreans, that spirit now stems more from feelings of cultural pride - a
culture they share with the North - than from the anti-communist
ideology that once held the country together.

Concrete plans for achieving the dream of unification are scarce, but
that has not prevented South Koreans from getting ready. The unification
dogs are just one way that South Koreans are preparing for the day the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) ceases to divide the peninsula. South Korean
conglomerate Hyundai, for example, operates factories in a special zone
in North Korea and brings tourists from the South to North Korea's Mt.
Kumgang.

Others have focused on the difficulties of getting along once South and
North Koreans find themselves face to face. Books have appeared
explaining how to understand the nuances of standard Pyongyang Korean,
which has developed independent of South Korea's Seoul-based language
system during the past 60 years of separation. For several years now,
scholars have been studying Germany's experience after the fall of the
Berlin Wall for lessons on how Koreans can manage their own transition.
The most far-sighted have aired worries about adequate transportation
infrastructure near the border that one day will not be.

Even if these measures make only minimal contributions toward real
change on the Korean peninsula, they do reflect attitudes that are now
widespread in the South. For many South Koreans, North Koreans are their
brethren with whom they are united through a common cultural heritage.
That was not always the feeling of South Koreans toward the North.

Before the transition to democracy in the 1980's, South Korean leaders
rallied their subjects around an ideology of anti-communism. After
decades of US-backed authoritarian rule in South Korea, South Korea's
citizens have turned against their former dictators and found solidarity
in cultural pride. And looking north, they discovered North Koreans were
also Korean.

Elections in 1997 brought to power long-time dissident Kim Dae-jung, who
later earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at fostering dialogue
with the North. Current South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, who was
presented with a unification puppy upon taking office in 2003, supports
his predecessor's "Sunshine Policy" of rapprochement with the North.
Diverging Priorities

Washington has another agenda on North Korea. The United States has now
brought out evidence that North Korea has printed at least $45 million
worth of $100 bills. Washington is seeking out support for sanctions
that would prevent financial firms that conduct business in North Korea
from operating in the United States.

US entreaties for South Korea to join the sanctions have fallen on deaf
ears in Seoul. President Roh Moo-hyun is quoted by The New York Times on
Jan. 29 as saying that "friction and disagreement between South Korea
and the United States" could arise if the allegations against North
Korea led right away to extreme measures. The cool response from South
Korea's leaders comes on the heels of Seoul's November abstention from a
vote in the United Nations General Assembly on a resolution expressing
concerns about human rights in North Korea.

These episodes have made it clear that South Korea's priorities in the
North differ from those of US policy makers, who see the North Korean
regime itself as the core problem that needs to be addressed. Seoul's
approach to Pyongyang is driven by concern for maintaining inter-Korean
relations, and neither the North Korean nuclear issue nor the charges of
counterfeiting alter that. While South Korea would certainly prefer a
non-nuclear North, Seoul's stakes are not as high as Washington's or
Tokyo's. It is unlikely that Pyongyang would drop a bomb just across the
DMZ.

Changes on the Korean peninsula have reshaped Seoul's interests in the
region and with regard to Washington. South Korean national identity is
now more tied to Korean-ness, a trait North Koreans happen to share.
Meanwhile, North Korea's nukes have not made Pyongyang any more
threatening to the South.

US leaders' difficulty in gaining cooperation from South Korea on a
hard-line stance on the North is related less to any rising South Korean
hostility to the United States than to declining South Korean hostility
to their northern neighbors. That trend has made Seoul less dependent on
Washington, where the current administrators might find Korea's
unification puppies nothing to bark about.
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6. KOREAS EXPAND PROJECTS IN TOURISM AND CULTURE
by Wohn Dong-hee, Joong Ang Ilbo, 28 March 2006

Government agencies are getting more aggressive in integrating North
Korean elements into their cultural programs. They are developing tour
packages that include destinations in the North and the South, and
exhibiting historical artifacts from the North. The Korea National
Tourism Organization said yesterday that it was offering a 10-day tour
of attractions in both the North and South.

"We're mainly promoting to affluent Russian tourists, but the tourism
packages are open to everyone," said Lim Jong-woo, a tourism agency
official.

The packages cost an average of $3,000 for a 10-day trip; sightseers can
depart from Beijing, China, or Vladivostok, Russia. They first travel to
Pyongyang, Mount Kumgang and Kaesong in North Korea and return to their
starting point. They then travel to Seoul, Gyeongju and other sites in
South Korea. There is no travel across the Demilitarized Zone.

Also yesterday, the National Museum of Korea announced that it would
stage a special exhibition of North Korean artifacts in June. This will
be the first time North Korean cultural assets will be displayed here
through a government agreement. At a press conference yesterday, the
museum's curator, Lee Kun-moo, said 65 artifacts from the Stone Age
through the Joseon Dynasty would be exhibited. Twenty-five paintings
will also be on display.

"The artifacts will be transported by land from Pyongyang through Mount
Kumgang," Mr. Lee said, "where they will be unpacked and examined by
North and South Korean authorities. They will then be moved to Seoul."
He said many of the artifacts will be new to South Koreans; even their
photographs have not been displayed here before.
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7. KOREAS BUILD WATER PURIFICATION FACILITY IN KAESONG
BBC, 28 March 2006

In another meaningful joint effort for cooperation, South and North
Korea began building a major water treatment facility in North Korea
Tuesday [28 March]. Columns of red, yellow and blue dirt clouds went up
as officials and businessmen from both sides broke ground for the
facility at an industrial complex being built by South Korea near
Kaesong, a North Korean city close to the border with the South.

"This project is meaningful because it will be jointly conducted by the
two Koreas for the first time and the North Korean people will directly
benefit from it," said Seo Kook-yool, spokesman of Korea Land Corp
(KOLAND), a South Korean state firm in charge of the project.

If completed in 2007 at a total cost of 20bn won (20.5m US dollars), the
facility will supply 60,000 tons of water daily for the Kaesong
Industrial Complex and many North Korean households in Kaesong,
according to Hyundai Asan Co, an arm of Hyundai group which is also
involved in the project. "Our objective is to pipe daily 45,000 and
15,000 tons of water from a reservoir located 17 km away from the
industrial complex to the complex and North Korean residents in Kaesong,
respectively," Seo said.

Some 220 guests from the two Koreas attended the ground-breaking
ceremony. Among them were South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-jong and
Ju Dong-chan, head of North Korea's special zone management agency. "We
will exert efforts to make Kaesong into the world's model industrial
park," KOLAND president Kim Jae-hyun said in a speech.

South Korea began building the complex in 2004 mainly for its
labour-intensive plants wanting to make use of cheap but skilled North
Korean labour. The impoverished North instead can expect to earn badly
needed foreign currency. Eleven South Korean garment, kitchenware and
other labour-intensive firms have built plants in the complex so far,
hiring some 6,000 North Korean workers for a monthly pay of 57.5 US
dollars each. The number of South Korean firms there is expected to
increase to several thousands within several years.

The water treatment facility is mainly for the industrial complex but
many of Kaesong's 400,000 people can also expect benefit from it, South
Korean officials said. The industrial complex is a by-product of the
historic inter-Korean summit in 2000. It is being pushed in three stages
for completion in 2012. In the first-stage project, the two Koreas
opened a 92,400-sq.m. land for a pilot operation. A 165,000-sq.m. land
was allocated to 24 businesses last year. The firms are expected to
begin building their factories in the first half of this year.

Kaesong is where Korean War armistice talks began. The three-year war
ended in 1953 in a fragile cease-fire agreement, not in a permanent
peace treaty. The Korean border is the most militarized in the world,
with nearly two million troops deployed on both sides. About 30,000 US
troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korean
provocation, a legacy of the Korean conflict.
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QUIDNUNC
In this section of CanKor, we invite readers to send questions, answers,
or responses. Answers should be under 150 words and may be edited for
space.
*************************************************

No answers were received to last week’s question:
HAS THE SIX-PARTY TALKS PROCESS RUN ITS COURSE?
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WHAT NOW?

Was it a mistake for EU countries and Canada to establish diplomatic
relations with the DPRK in the wake of the Inter-Korean summit of 2000?

[Answers and questions should be e-mailed to: editor at CanKor.ca]
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End CanKor # 243

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