The North Korean authorities are taking some former Kaesong Industrial Complex laborers and their families out of the Kaesong region and sending them back to their registered areas of residence, Daily NK has learned.
A source from Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province reported to Daily NK today, “With regards to the temporary closure of the Kaesong Complex, they are withdrawing those from Pyongyang and Sariwon who used to work there along with their families and sending them back. They are sending them to their areas of residence against their will in order to avoid having to take responsibility for their wellbeing.”
“Not only the workers themselves but also their families don’t see much of a future,” the source added. “Kaesong gave them hope, and they used bribery and all their power to get dispatched there, so being sent back home again now is really bad news for them.”
The move appears designed to address the fact that the immediate region cannot assimilate the needs of all 50,000 jobless laborers, the source said. He explained, “Basically, the upper (the authorities) forcibly halted Kaesong, but they couldn’t take responsibility for the livelihoods of the 50,000 workers. They are passing the responsibility on to other regions, but every region is in the same boat so their lives are really difficult.”
On May 3rd, Daily NK reported on local workers being dispatched to a variety of factories, other enterprises and cooperative farms in North Hwanghae Province, and thereafter subjected to extensive “re-education” nominally intended to eliminate the capitalist ideas they picked up while working in the Kaesong Complex.
The source confirmed, “Those who were originally from Kaesong are being divided up and sent to work for factories and farms in the area,” adding, “people are saying that the reopening of the Complex is getting further away all the time.”
