Korea , Seoul and Pyongyang reach agreement to reopen Kaesong
Seoul (AsiaNews)
- After five months of stalemate, the governments of Seoul and Pyongyang reached
an overnight agreement to reopen the inter-Korean industrial complex of Kaesong
. This
is has been confirmed by the Unification Ministry in the South, according to
which operations will resume on the 16th of September, followed a few days
later ( 19 , Korean Thanksgiving Day ) - subject to a last-minute crisis - by a
resumption in the reunification
of families divided by the Korean War
and the subsequent division of the peninsula .
According
to the agreements signed between the two governments, the South Korean
industries will be exempt from paying taxes to the end of 2013: the unpaid
taxes of 2012, that the North had indicated as an excuse to block
South Korean entrepreneurs access to the complex will instead be covered until the end of the year. Seoul
and Pyongyang have also agreed to create a bilateral arbitration body - to be
consulted in case of disagreement on wages and taxation - and to set up a radio
identification system to facilitate access to the industrial area .
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South Korean factories, which employ about 50 thousand workers from the North
operate in the Kaesong industrial complex, located near the Demilitarized Zone.
It
is an important source of income for the disastrous economy of the Kim regime,
brought to its knees by financial policies bankruptcy and spiraling military
costs.
The
closure of the inter-Korean industrial complex was decided unilaterally by
Pyongyang in early April, the last act in a series of provocations and war
propaganda that once again brought the peninsula to the brink of open conflict.
Since mid-July the two governments have been trying to find "common
ground" to authorize the reopening, but without reaching an agreement.
The
Catholic Church in South Korea has repeatedly called for the reopening of the
complex, defined by the Archbishop of Seoul "a
symbol of peace and hope " for the future reunification of the country.
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