A seven-man team of South Koreans who stayed in the Kaesong Industrial Complex to clear up outstanding issues following the prior withdrawal of South Korean workers were due to return to South Korea across the inter-Korean border at 5:30PM (local time) today.
A Ministry of Unification official revealed the news this afternoon, telling reporters, “The seven, which includes [Kaesong Industrial Complex Management Committee] Chairman Hong Yang Ho, is expected to return home following the conclusion at around 3:30PM of an agreement on outstanding workers’ wages.”
“A team of five including Kim Ho Nyeon, the vice director of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Management Committee, will enter at around the same time with a secure vehicle to transfer outstanding monies to the North Korean side,” the official explained. “And once that process is complete they are expected to return directly.”
The North Korean side has apparently not accepted South Korea’s request that finished goods and raw materials be conveyed to the South Korean firms that operate in the zone. However, the official said that South Korea plans to continue pushing for the assets to be released.
