SEOUL: South Korea warned Thursday it will take “necessary steps” if Pyongyang continues its unauthorized use of a joint industrial complex in the North once seen as a symbol of reconciliation.
More than 50,000 North Korean workers once worked at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, churning out products ranging from watches to clothes for about 125 South Korean companies that supplied the funding and equipment.
Seoul pulled out of the venture — launched in the wake of the 2000 inter-Korean summit — in 2016 in response to a nuclear test and missile launches by the North, saying Kaesong profits were helping fund the provocations.
But the North has continued using the facility and its South Korean-owned assets without permission, Seoul’s unification ministry said Thursday.
South Korea’s liaison office sent a notice on Thursday demanding activity at the factory complex cease, but North Korea refused to accept it, the ministry said.
The announcement came a day after North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper released a set of photographs showing what appeared to be a South Korean bus once used to carry workers to the complex running in Pyongyang.
The continued operation of the facilities “regardless of the will of the businessmen is a clear violation of property rights” and the two Koreas’ agreement on investment guarantees, Seoul’s notice said, according to the ministry.
“North Korea should stop this immediately. If there is no corresponding response from North Korea regarding our request, we will take necessary steps assuming that North Korea has admitted to operating the complex without permission,” the notice said.
What action might be taken was not specified.
While open, the business park was virtually the last remaining form of economic cooperation between the Koreas, providing precious hard currency for the impoverished North and cheap labor and tax breaks for the involved companies.
North Korea has doubled down on the expansion of its military arsenal and nuclear program since a 2019 Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong Un and then-US president Donald Trump failed to yield any meaningful outcome.
In recent weeks, it has tested what state media has claimed was an underwater, nuclear-capable drone and carried out the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Officials in Seoul and Washington have warned since early 2022 that North Korea may be preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test, with some experts saying it could be imminent.
Seoul warns North Korea to stop unauthorized use of factory complex
https://arab.news/4dwtx
Seoul warns North Korea to stop unauthorized use of factory complex
- More than 50,000 North Korean workers once worked at the Kaesong Industrial Complex
- Joint industrial complex in the North was once seen as a symbol of reconciliation
Starmer arrives in China to defend ‘pragmatic’ partnership
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, hoping to restore long fraught relations
BEIJING: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, hoping to restore long fraught relations.
It is the first visit to China by a UK prime minister since 2018 and follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States.
Starmer, who is also expected to visit Shanghai on Friday, will later make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
For Xi, the trip is an opportunity to show Beijing can be a reliable partner at a time when President Donald Trump’s policies have rattled historic ties between Washington and its Western allies.
Starmer is battling record low popularity polls and hopes the visit can boost Britain’s beleaguered economy.
The trip has been lauded by Downing Street as a chance to boost trade and investment ties while raising thorny issues such as national security and human rights.
Starmer will meet with Xi for lunch on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang.
The British leader said on Wednesday this visit to China was “going to be a really important trip for us,” vowing to make “some real progress.”
There are “opportunities” to deepen bilateral relations, Starmer told reporters traveling with him on the plane to China.
“It doesn’t make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China, it’s in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security,” he added.
China, for its part, “is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun reiterated Wednesday during a news briefing.
Starmer is the latest Western leader to be hosted by Beijing in recent months, following visits by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Faced with Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canada for signing a trade agreement with China, and the US president’s attempts to create a new international institution with his “Board of Peace,” Beijing has been affirming its support for the United Nations to visiting leaders.
Reset ties
UK-China relations plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony.
They soured further since with both powers exchanging accusations of spying.
Starmer, however, was quick to deny fresh claims of Chinese spying after the Telegraph newspaper reported Monday that China had hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years.
“There’s no evidence of that. We’ve got robust schemes, security measures in place as you’d expect,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Since taking the helm in 2024, Starmer has been at pains to reset ties with the world’s second-largest economy and Britain’s third-biggest trade partner.
In China, he will be accompanied by around 60 business leaders from the finance, pharmaceutical, automobile and other sectors, and cultural representatives as he tries to balance attracting vital investment and appearing firm on national security concerns.
The Labour leader also spoke to Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024.
Jimmy Lai
The prime minister is also expected to raise the case of Hong Kong media mogul and democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, 78, a British national facing years in prison after being found guilty of collusion charges in December.
When asked by reporters about his plans to discuss Lai’s case, Starmer avoided specifics, but said engaging with Beijing was to ensure that “issues where we disagree can be discussed.”
“You know my practice, which is to raise issues that need to be raised,” added Starmer, who has been accused by the Conservative opposition of being too soft in his approach to Beijing.
Reporters Without Borders urged Starmer in a letter to secure Lai’s release during his visit.
The British government has also faced fierce domestic opposition after it approved this month contentious plans for a new Chinese mega-embassy in London, which critics say could be used to spy on and harass dissidents.
At the end of last year, Starmer acknowledged that China posed a “national security threat” to the UK, drawing flak from Chinese officials.
The countries also disagree on key issues including China’s close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the war in Ukraine, and accusations of human rights abuses in China.
