Text 33347, 60 rader
Skriven 2009-06-12 08:48:33 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
     Kommentar till en text av For Michiel's awareness
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This is taken from a S Korean newsservice editorial page printed online
Yesterday (June 12), The Korea Herold. It's one of many Korean websites
boasting their use of English reporting.

http://tinyurl.com/ma3klm

It explains a lot about the N Korean methods used to negotiate for what
they want. Note the accusation brought against NK in the use of a SK
worker held hostage without charges as a pawn in order to get what they
want.

/quote

[EDITORIAL] Gambit a la N.K.

In its opening remarks for negotiations on Thursday, North Korea demanded
South Korean companies operating in its Gaeseong Industrial Complex raise
the pay for North Korean workers four-fold. It also demanded that South
Korean land developers pay an additional $500 million on top of $16
million they already paid in 2004 as rent for the site.

If it was for the security of its managers that a South Korean dressmaker
decided recently to withdraw its fur coat-making operation from the
complex, skyrocketing operational costs may now force South Korean
companies to follow suit en masse. Many of the 106 corporations engaged in
manufacturing in the complex say they have no reason to remain there if
North Korea insists on an unacceptable pay increase.

The monthly pay for a North Korean worker is $75. Worker compensation
amounting to $300, as demanded by North Korea, will wipe out the
comparative advantage the industrial complex has over Chinese provincial
cities, where the average pay for workers hovers around $100, and some
other countries where the pay is even lower.

It is too early to determine whether North Korea came up with the
unreasonable demands simply as a negotiation strategy, or if it really
believes its demands will bear fruit. Did it decide that permitting South
Korean companies to manufacture products on its territory no longer served
its interests?

No less a serious problem is the security of South Koreans managing
operations in the complex. North Korea has been detaining a Hyundai-Asan
employee for more than two months without bringing any formal charges
against him. Suspicions are now being raised that North Korea is using him
as a pawn for negotiations with the South.

The next round of negotiations, scheduled for Friday, will prove to be
meaningless unless North Korea comes to its senses and makes reasonable
demands. It will also have to send the Hyundai-Asan employee back to South
Korea before the negotiations resume.

/close quote

                R\%/itt

Joy lives in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in
the victory itself.

--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000
 * Origin: SATX Alamo Area Net * South * Texas, USA * (1:397/22)