The economic damage to companies stationed in the Kaesong Industrial Complex because of North Korean measures on restraining passage in and out during the time of the Key Resolve military drill, from the 9th to the 20th, may amount to as much as 10 million dollars.
Representative of the Forum for Inter-Korea Relations Kim Gyu Chul claimed in a telephone interview with Daily NK on Tuesday, “Based on the monthly production of enterprises in Kaesong, 24.12 million dollars, and the fact that they lost 25-40% of production, that is, the scale of the damage is approximately 6.08-10 million dollars as a result of this latest issue”
Representative Kim pointed out that, “Without any notice, they took such irrational measures as blocking passage across the border, opening it and then closing it again, so companies had to suffer additional distribution costs and other intangible losses such as deteriorating international credit conditions, overdue completion of orders etc. If we add in such intangible damage, the total will increase.”
With regard to compensation, “If companies in Kaesong were closed due to the fault of the South Korean government, we could retrieve 90 percent of our investment. Yet, it is hard to get it when North Korea abuses economic cooperation agreements. As a result, in this case, there is no way to get any compensation from either government.”
Meanwhile, a vice-spokesman in the Ministry of Unification, Lee Jong Joo said today, “North Korea reconnected the military communication line and normalized overland passage after Key Resolve. Our government is preparing preventive measures so as not to allow such things to happen again.”
In late-February, 101 companies were operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and 33 were under construction.
