According to the Choson Ilbo:
The South’s Kaesong Industrial Complex Management Committee, which supervises the estate just north of the border, said Sunday visitors would no longer need to provide anything more than ID cards and travel permits.
Responding to complaints about inconvenience, the North agreed to allow the South’s office to process some paperwork on behalf of individuals.
“The extra documents were redundant because they carried exactly the same information as ID cards and travel permits,” the South’s office spokesman told AFP, adding the new rules would take effect from Monday.
Despite the easing of border controls, the fate of Kaesong remains uncertain because of the North’s demand for huge pay and rent increases, along with its holding of a Seoul worker.
Pyongyang detained the South Korean male worker on March 30 for allegedly criticising its political system and trying to incite a female North Korean worker to defect.
Kaesong, which opened in December 2004, is the last remaining large-scale reconciliation project between the communist North and the capitalist South.
Some 40,000 North Koreans work for South Korean firms in Kaesong.
Read previous Kaesong Industrial Zone posts here.
Read the full story here:
N.Korea agrees to streamline border crossing
AFP
8/2/2009
