This morning, at the end of marathon talks lasting from the afternoon of the 6th until early on the morning of the 7th, the two Koreas arrived at their first agreement under the rule of President Park Geun Hye and Kim Jong Eun.
Following two meetings between the two sides’ combined delegations and a further ten rounds between the respective delegation heads, at 4:05AM the two sides arrived at a four-point agreement that has the latent potential to result in the normalization of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Under the first clause, enterprise managers from the Complex are to be allowed to visit Kaesong in order to conduct facility inspections from the morning of the 10th, this Wednesday. Secondly, companies are to be allowed to export finished goods and raw materials; under the third clause, North Korea has agreed to guarantee the security of personnel and vehicles during this process.
However, success remains uncertain. Under the final clause, follow-up inter-Korean dialogue is to be held on the 10th in the Kaesong Complex to address the issue of normalization, in particular the thorny problem of finding a way to satisfy South Korea’s calls for a North Korea guarantee that a similar shutdown will not occur in future.
