SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- Monthly trade between South and North Korea fell more than 30 percent on-year in March, as tensions ran high over South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise, government data showed Monday. The two Koreas exchanged goods and services worth US$108.74 million over the last month, down 31.1 percent from $157.9 million in the same period in 2008, the data from the Unification Ministry said.
| The Nork trade involves goods from Kaesong; apparently the SKor trade involves food, oil and cognac ... |
North Korea sealed the border three times in March, disrupting South Korean production in a joint industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong. Pyongyang imposed the ban in retaliation against a joint military exercise South Korea staged with the United States from March 9 to 20 south of the border. Pyongyang blasted the joint exercise as a rehearsal for a "second Korean War," while the two allies say the annual drill is purely defensive.
More than 100 South Korean firms operate in the Kaesong industrial venture, just an hour's drive from Seoul, joining their capital and technology with North Korea's cheap but skilled labor.
North Korea demanded the South raise wages ...
| That money goes into Kimmie's hands, and the people who work get virtually nothing. |
... pay fees for land use ...
| Not allowed until 2014 according to the current agreement; the Norks just want to squeeze the SKor companies. |
... and revise existing contracts for the Kaesong venture ...
| Also not allowed but since when did the Norks let a signed agreement stop them? |
... during inter-Korean government talks last week, the first official dialogue in more than a year. Seoul is gathering opinion from South Korean firms and plans to respond to the North Korean demand as early as this week.
| The SKor companies are nervous; they've invested large sums of money into these ventures and now stand to lose just about all of it. |
The joint venture opened in late 2004 as a key outcome of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il who agreed to reduce military tension and boost reconciliatory exchanges. |