[Editorial] Gaeseong Complex, Symbol of Reconciliation : English Editorials : Internet Hankyoreh

The kitchen product manufacturer Living Art held a ceremony in the North's Gaeseong industrial park on Wednesday to mark the completion of its plant there and the making of its first products. Later in the day 1,000 pot sets made by North Korean workers arrived at a department store in downtown Seoul after crossing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and finally ended up in the hands of South Korean housewives. It reminded you for real that North and South Korea are living in the same space and time.

The Gaeseong industrial complex is a marriage of South Korean capital and technology and North Korean labor and land, and it demonstrates well how North and South are entering an era of reconciliation and cooperation. Other companies will soon be producing clothing, shoes, and other products there. If the complex is managed as it is supposed to be, South Korean middle-sized companies will be able to increase international competitiveness by investing in Gaeseong instead of going off to China or Southeast Asia in search of low wages. It will help the North in its economic difficulties and an experiment in "North Korean-style openness." This means the foundations of intra-Korean coexistence have been put in place.

Chung Dong Young, who went to Gaeseong for what was his first trip to North Korea since becoming unification minister, said in his address that he would "do everything possible to work with the Northern authorities to create a climate and structure that would allow businesspeople to have the confidence to invest and engage in production activities," and surely he said so because he knows all too well of the importance of the project.

The future for the Gaeseong industrial complex is not an entirely optimistic one. The North Korean nuclear issue and other factors contributing to instability on the Korean peninsula need to be resolved quickly if intra-Korean economic cooperation is to continue in a stable manner and expand to other areas. North Korea needs to think strategically and make the right decision. There needs to be a rapid re-opening of the ministerial level talks that are currently halted. More immediately, the suggestion that the pace of progress at Gaeseong should be restrained until the nuclear issue is resolved needs to be corrected, because building mutual trust through economic cooperation will be of help in appeasing the political and military tension. The United States and neighboring countries could be persuaded as to the validity of that approach as it succeeds.

It is our hope that the Gaeseong industrial complex project becomes a historical milestone in the journey to overcoming the Division and arriving at reunification.

The Hankyoreh, 16 December 2004.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]