Trip to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex
Participants in the International Conference to Commemorate the 7th Anniversary of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration paid a visit to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex on June 13, 2007. They entered the North territory of the MDL by bus at 2 p.m. via the Immigration Office of the South. Until they left the Gaeseong Industrial Complex at 5 p.m., they were guided by North Korean tour guides into every corner of the region.
Below are articles by a few participants, Leon V. Sigal, Director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project, the Social Science Research Council, and studetns of the Graduate School of Internatinal Studies of Yonsei University.
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GAESEONG
Leon V. Sigal
Director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project
The Social Science Research Council
Address to an International Conference to Commemorate
the 7th Anniversary of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration
Seoul, June 15, 2007
President Kim, First Lady Lee, distinguished guests:
I was asked to give you my impressions of my visit -- my first -- to Gaeseong yesterday. It was, with apologies to the Beatles, a magical mystery tour.
Magical because of the vision of reconciliation and engagement conjured up by Kim Dae-jung as the way to peace and prosperity for all Koreans.
Magical because who could have dreamed in 1987 or 1997 that all this would be possible by 2007:
-- For South Koreans, Americans and others to drive through the DMZ on a bus,
-- Alongside a rail line re-linking North and South,
-- Past relaxed South Korean and North Korean border guards,
-- Into a special enterprise zone with 700 South Korean factory managers and others working side by side with 15,000 North Korean workers,
-- On a battleground of war seemingly being transformed by Koreans into a zone of peace before my eyes,
Magical yet mysterious at the same time.
For who could one ask the questions prompted by the tour, questions like:
-- What will Gaeseong teach North Koreans about markets and democracy?
-- That hard work earns a just reward and the opportunity to succeed, to rise above one's station in life? Or that markets are just about the acquisition of more goods?
-- That factory managers are in control of workers? Or that workers have rights and must be respected and treated with dignity -- in short, that industrial democracy is possible and can be inculcated in Gaeseong?
And at a less lofty level there were more mundane mysteries, such as:
-- What do North Koreans think when they hear the promotional film say, without irony, that the Gaeseong Industrial Complex offers a "well-disciplined work force"?
-- And the North Korean workers drinking Hite beers at a table outside a Family Mart convenience store that accepts only dollars: how did they get the beers if it is illegal for North Koreans to have dollars?
-- At the clinic staffed by South Korean doctors and North Korean nurses, what happens to patients who need care for a serious injury or illness? Are they rushed to North Korean hospitals which, however well-run by dedicated personnel, lack the sophisticated equipment and medicines needed to treat them? Or will they be brought to the South for care?
-- At the fire station, how can eight firemen put out a large fire? Or will firefighters come from Gaeseong city to help?
Who would answer these questions on the tour? And who would dare ask them?
So it was indeed a magical mystery tour -- magical that Gaeseong Industrial Complex even exists yet mysterious how it will knit this divided country together, politically and socially, not just economically.
But I know if anyone can make that happen, Koreans can.
Thank you.
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Gaeseong Trip Report
Paul Hussey
Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies
Program in International Cooperation
I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to go on this trip. I have been interested in North Korea since I began my studies at Yonsei, and I plan to write my thesis on international engagement with North Korea. This trip gave me the chance to see for myself the progress being made on this important cooperative project. The tour was very informative and I was surprised by the scope of the plans for Gaeseong.
Although I have read a lot about the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, through this trip I was able to gain a better understanding of what it is all about, and I think that there is a lot of potential for the project to promote reform and development in the North. However, the current regime in North Korea has not shown any firm commitment to reforms that would promote increased foreign investment in projects like Gaeseong. There are advantages to investing in Gaeseong like the low cost of labor, but due to political and military tensions on the peninsula the risk for investors remains high. Therefore, I think that the potential for Gaeseong – in conjunction with Incheon and Seoul – to become an international hub of trade, logistics, and production as outlined in the plans for the project is contingent on the progress of reforms in the North.
I am hopeful that the Gaeseong Industrial Complex can serve to promote further opening and reform in North Korea. After participating in this tour I feel that the potential is there for this to happen. A large number of North Koreans will be employed in the complex as it continues to expand, and these people will be directly experience the benefits of international trade and investment. The North Koreans involved in the Gaeseong project will have the chance to see for themselves that increased opening and reform can mean a better standard of living for North Koreans and better relations with other countries in the region and around the world. In this way Gaeseong can promote opening and reform while at the same time facilitating increased cooperation with South Korea, hopefully leading to peaceful reunification.
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Trip to Kaesong
Zhigalova Elena, Russia
Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies
Program in International Cooperation
How the world perceives North Korea to be? A war zone where peace is a thing of luxury and life is in danger every moment of the day… However my experience to Kaesong if not totally negates my preconceived perception about North Korea, it is a scintilla of evidence that piece and development is attainable in this “godforsaken” part of the world.
Being a Russian when I heard about the opportunity to go to North Korea, I had mixed feelings about it. Of course I really wanted to go, but I was also aware that Kaesong is just a special district in North Korea, open to foreigners and South Koreans visitors. Nevertheless, I was longing to go and meet people which I have been learning and reading about so much recently. Russians have special reservation for North Korean issue; this was one of the reasons for me to go there. I was wondering what the ugly face of the defunct socialist system would look like in North Korea, though dead it is back at home. I was interested how I would be received by those people, whose country has been Russia’s political alliance for several decades.
We were warned that no cellular phones, no newspapers, no books were allowed, and even talking to North Koreans is not so desirable. What kind of a world they are living in? They are isolated from the rest of the world and it turned out that Kaesong area is like a small bridge to the better world-a light at the end of the tunnel.
My first glimpse, when I first laid my eyes was that I felt the stark contrast, in South Korea every inch of the land is in use, every part of it developed for some sort of use. There in North Korea, it shows bare slopes of the hills and tired village people trying to squeeze from the land its remaining strength. Nature was somehow in its very untouched and virgin form and, so to say, not well taken care of. However, another scene was awaiting us in the Kaesong industrial complex. I was pleasantly surprised to see that in a part of the world where the media portrays to be a living witness of misery, this much miniaturized form of an industrial area where I saw the hospital, the bank and all sort of apparatus that are needed to operate a daily life of a city is a commendable achievement. This is a miniscule of the good things that countries, if they have the good will, can change the bigger picture. As far as I am concerned, it is an enormous achievement; it is a hope for the world that this benefit limited to a small portion of the people and to small part of the land, for the future time to came, expands to give its fruit to the rest of the country in North Korea. It is a living witness that mere critique, confrontation and repots of the human rights abuse are not enough. Rather, I would say that, a positive and pragmatic step to change the problem at hand is a good beginning worthy of appreciation. The wisdom of the sunshine policy can be vividly seen here, and wish for it to trickle down to the North Korean mass.
I look forward to witnessing the political and economic transformation of North Korea and for them to have amicable and brotherly relationship with South Korea on the way to Reunification.
Water droplets make an impact!
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Visit Gaesong Industrial Complex
at the 7th Anniversary of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration
Jens Novy
Luckily, I was one of the very few people who got the opportunity to join the group which was allowed to visit the Gaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea.
When entering North Korea through all the control measures by North Korean’s military, I perceived the control measures by the South Korean guards with their stamp of approval in the passport to be more strict than on the North Korean side. This came to me as a surprise.
After passing the boarder of North Korea, no military was present any longer, only people in civil with guards. Many of them had a sticker of the North Korean flag with Kim Jong-il at its front. I perceived all the people there to be exceptionally friendly, not the way you would expect North Korean citizens to be. However, it seemed to me as if they had clear limitations on what they can say. For example, when joining the conference at the very beginning, a question was posted why Gaesong is being planned as a city consisting of two main parts which are separated by a large undeveloped stripe in its middle. The presenter first did not fully understand the question. However, when people were waiting for a straight answer, he meant that it would be difficult to develop this area. However, when we drove in the bus to different places in Gaesong throughout the day, I simply could not see a reason for not developing this area.
We visited the local bank there with its employees giving a short introduction. It seemed to me however as if they learned all the text by heart about what they are going to say. But this is only an assumption since I got told that there are a big number of visitors at Gaesong and it might have become a sort of routine to them because they have to give an introduction to all the visitors. The local shop, which can be directly accessed through a side door of the bank, only accepts US-dollars.
Afterwards, we got the opportunity to visit the hospital. It had a common entrance for all patients. However after entering the building, there were two counters. The counter one the left side which was administered by the North Korean part, and the counter on the right hand was under the supervision of South Korea. Although the hospital was therefore divided into two parts, there existed some sort of co-operation since the South Korean part for example specialised themselves in dentistry and surgery.
In contrast, the power plant which delivers electricity exclusively to the firms in the Gaesong Industrial Complex is operated by the South and North Korean employees with joint forces. Our conference proceeded by visiting the production facility of the South Korean fashion company Shinwon. After a short introduction about the company and the significance of the production facility in the Gaesong area, we walked through the aisles of the production facility experiencing the work process first hand. From the background you could hear recorded music all the time and pretty loud. This type of music was however very strange to me. It was sang with a high voice supposedly having some content of Kim Jong-il.
Afterwards, we visited a subsidiary of Hyundai Automotive. They showed us extensively the plans to develop the area of Gaesong and its own role in this efforts. Due to time constraints, we missed the opportunity to go on top of the roof to have a panorama view of the area. Buying products which are made in North Korea was also not possible at the very end of our stay since we fell back on our schedule to leave Gaesong until 6pm. When we arrived at the boarder to leave North Korea, one of the boarder control personnel asked me whether I would NOT carry any photo camera with me. I answered this question with NO, which according to Korean style would mean I carry one with me which was however not the case. He looked at me and wanted to know my nationality. I replied to be German. He then just said that I’m done. He must have known that in the so-called Western countries, people have another way of answering Yes and No questions. I realised my mistake only after we already left North Korea.
