The Kaesong Industrial Complex has, since 2004, been one of the only symbols of cooperation and unity between North and South Korea. This industrial project was organized by the South with the intention of providing jobs for more than 50,000 DPRK workers. The South agreed to provide the technical expertise and the North would staff the complex.
For many years, this system worked well for both parties and gave them yet one more reason to keep their relations at a peaceful level. On April 9, the DPRK shut the complex down, a tantrum-motivated reaction to military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Despite recent tensions, the South has been trying to get the complex opened up again, but the North is unwilling.
In the short term, South Korea has been forced to take financial action to ensure that the owners and workers of the complex (at least the South Korean ones) don’t suffer from this development. They've also resorted to that age-old tactic of throwing around threats, telling the North that if they didn't enter into talks to help get the industrial complex reopened that there would be “significant measures.”
Most speculate that this means South Korea will be done with the North as far as cooperating with them in cross-border economic ventures. This move would not only prove devastating for relations between the two countries, but would be particularly damaging to the North Korean economy. It’s not as if they have a huge excess of jobs there, after all.
North Korea doesn't exactly make the smartest moves when they feel their pride is hurt and this latest action only proves the point. They’re already losing much of the assistance they get from China as they piss that giant off and now they show that they’re willing to sacrifice even more (or at least where it comes to the welfare of their people) to maintain their haughty attitude.
With aid unlikely to reach the country due to the current showdown, we could be looking at another incident of mass death in the North due to lack of food and medical supplies. If this keeps up, the DPRK may very well destroy itself from within. Of course, would security in the region be worth the hundreds-of-thousands of lives this devil's deal would likely cost?
Kaesong photo courtesy of Nicor via Wikicommons
