Korean Industrial Zone Reopens as North-South Ties Improve
Thousands of workers from both South and North Korea returned to the joint Kaesong industrial complex to restore operations after escalating threats of war forced it to shut down five months ago.
Hundreds of trucks carrying factory managers and company executives from South Korea jammed the border crossing on their way to Kaesong.
South Korean businessmen lined up at a currency exchange booth at the transit office to exchange South Korean won into U.S. dollars, the only currency that can be used in Kaesong.
Negotiators from the rival Koreas reached an agreement last week to reopen the complex. As part of the deal, Seoul demanded that efforts be made to attract foreign companies to invest in Kaesong, which they believe will make it harder for Pyongyang to shut down the complex in the future.
A joint North-South Korean committee has been formed to oversee the Kaesong complex.
North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from Kaesong in April following months of bellicose rhetoric against the South and the United States. The North was angered by a joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise, as well as increased international sanctions imposed by the United Nations after it conducted a third nuclear test in February.
Kaesong first opened in 2004 during a period of warming relations between the communist North and democratic South. About 123 South Korean companies manufacture goods with cheap North Korean labor, providing a source of hard currency for the impoverished North.
Kaesong's reopening comes amid improved relations between Seoul and Pyongyang. The two sides will resume reunions of families of separated by the 1950-53 Korean War next week, and have agreed to hold talks on resuming South Korean tours to a North Korean mountain resort.
Source: Voice of America
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