Kaesong pushes DPRK to internalize reform

Joong Ang Daily
Lee Young-jong
12/13/2006

North shows an interest in Kaesong legal systems

North Korea has shown interest in introducing the legal taxation and accounting systems used in the market economy at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, Vice Unification Minister Shin Un-sang said yesterday.

Speaking at an academic forum sponsored in Seoul by the North Korean Law Research Institute to discuss how to establish the systems in the complex, Mr. Shin said, “North Korean officials’ perceptions in regard to establishing market-economy legal systems for the Kaesong Industrial Complex are changing. In the past, they have shown negative perceptions, but lately they have expressed a high interest and sympathized with the necessity of those systems.”

The vice unification minister said establishing a legal framework in line with international standards is essential for the stable development of the complex.

In the complex, 15 subregulations on taxation, labor and so on have been enacted since it opened in December 2004. Currently, about 10,000 North Koreans work in 18 South Korean companies in the complex.

Meanwhile, Jay Lefkowitz, the United States’ special envoy on human rights in North Korea, said last week that Seoul needed to use the complex as a pretext to pressure Pyongyang on human rights issues by opening it up for international inspection.

He said Seoul was one of the few countries to have enough leverage to pressure the North.

Korea Times
Lee Jin-woo
12/12/2006

Kaesong to Test Market Economy

Vice Minister of Unification Shin Un-sang said Tuesday North Korea is interested in introducing a market-style economy in the joint inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea.

“It’s been true that North Korea has been quite reluctant about introducing market economy-based regulations,” Shin said during a seminar on inter-Korean relations and North Korean law held in Seoul. “However, they recently agreed on the need to develop new legal conditions for the Kaesong Industrial Complex, especially in terms of taxation and accounting.”

The vice minister said the new regulations for Kaesong have great symbolic meaning in that they would significantly help North Korea better understand the legal system of a market economy, which is different from their Stalinist system.

Shin predicted that if the market system is working successfully in Kaesong, North Korea would expand the capitalist system in the rest of the country although he was unsure when the expansion would be made.

Shin, however, said there would be a number of stumbling blocks that the two Koreas have to deal with, as the two nations’ legal systems differ in many respects.

The two Koreas abide by a special law comprising some 15 lower-level regulations on minimum wages and basic taxation, mainly aimed at the management of the joint inter-Korean venture.

The number of North Koreans working for the 18 South Korean firms at the industrial complex surpassed 10,000 last month, according to the Ministry of Unification.

It’s been 34 months since Hyundai Asan, the South Korean developer of the joint industrial park, first hired a group of 42 North Korean construction workers in February 2004, the ministry said.

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