The sixth joint Kaesong Industrial Complex Committee meeting held between the two Koreas on the 16th failed to resolve pending issues regarding the complex, namely the unilateral demand by North Korea that its laborers¡¯ wages be raised, with no date set for continued meetings. 

The talks carried on for nearly 12 hours, with the North Korean delegation repeatedly asserting a wage hike as its ¡°sovereign right.¡± The North took issue with the South¡¯s three requests: [1] allowing South Korean citizens¡¯ free travels to and from KIC, [2] allowing South Korean citizens¡¯ free cell phone and Internet usage in KIC; and [3] less stringent custom inspections in KIC. In fact, North Korea called for the tightening of regulations for those entering the complex. 

Lee Sang Min, the South Korean official who headed Seoul's delegation, said at a press conference on the 17th, ¡°It is unfortunate that North Korea did not show the will to implement developmental normalization methods, precluding us from reaching specific agreements.¡±

He added, ¡°The North lacked sincerity and put all the blame on the South. It broached the May 24th Measures [sanctions on North Korea including the ban on all manner of trade between the two Koreas save those within KIC] and claimed that is South Korea, not North Korea, hampering resolution on these issues.¡± 

South Korea, Lee asserted, proposed holding the next [seventh] meeting as soon as possible, but North Korea refused to agree on a specific date for the next meeting until its demands are met. Meanwhile, Lee said that South Korea will continue to try to draw them back to the negotiating table to reach a consensus. 

Park Chul Soo, North Korea¡¯s vice-director of Central Special Development Guidance Bureau, told South Korean media representatives after the joint meeting, ¡°We sincerely felt today that the KIC joint committee is a completely useless organization; There is no need for such conferences in the future.¡± 

South Korean media also spoke with North Korean laborers from KIC--generally known to be carefully selected by the North Korean authorities and often not actual workers at the complex--who offered the follow statement, ¡°KIC provides the lowest wages in the world. This place launched businesses a decade ago with a 50 USD monthly salary for each of the workers at the time. The monthly salary for (North Korean) laborers at KIC is now 70 USD. South Korean employees receive 3,000 USD a month on average. What kind of gap is that?¡± 

The South Korean reporters then moved on to broach North Korea¡¯s nuclear development, noting it as a threat to the South, to which the North Korean workers at the scene responded that if not for these capabilities, the Korean Peninsula would be embroiled in active battle. They went on to condemn the injustice in South Korea housing nuclear weapons while demanding North Korea give up theirs. 

When representatives from the South's media responded that the South's attempts to develop nuclear weapons were dropped in the 90s, and it is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the North¡¯s workers retorted, ¡°Have you ever gone directly [to the site] to see if that¡¯s actually true?¡±