Press Release (July 2)
Outcome of the Third Round of Working-Level Meeting between the DPRK Authority and the ROK government Concerning Gaeseong Industrial Complex
<Outline>
l On July 2, the delegations from the Democratic People s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) had a plenary session from 10:00 to 11:10 a.m..
- The South Korean delegation came to the meeting with a more progressed position, proposing new formality of the meeting.
- The North Korean delegation showed no change of position, insisting on prioritizing the issue of increasing land royalty.
l The South delegation negotiated with the North Korean counterpart in order to continue the meeting in the afternoon, but they failed to resume the meeting due to disagreements between the two delegations.
<Issue of a South Korean employee detained by the DPRK authority>
l The South delegation demanded to be informed of the detainee s whereabouts and health status and urged immediate release of him.
- The North delegation gave no reply to our demand.
<New system for inter-Korean working-level meeting>
l The South delegation proposed forward-looking system to further progress the inter-Korean meeting.
- We proposed two-track system of working-level general meeting in which overall issues concerning the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) would be negotiated and working-level sub-meeting in which pending issues would be negotiated case by case.
<Pending issues concerning the GIC>
l The South delegation emphasized again the three principles for the GIC development and proposed to negotiate pending issues concerning the GIC based on these three principles.
* Three principles for the GIC development are principle of establishing rules, principle of pursuing the philosophy of economics, and principle of future-oriented development.
- The South delegation proposed the North to rescind the measures that the DPRK authority took on Dec. 1 last year to restrict South Korean citizens cross-border travel and stay in the North; to address the 3C problems (cross-border travel, communications network and customs clearance); and to implement the Joint Committee for Entry and Stay in North and South Korea.
- We made a practical proposal to start joint site-inspections on foreign industrial complexes on July 20.
- We expressed our position that we are willing to immediately negotiate the construction of daycare centers as it is in the realm of humanitarian issue.
- We will continue negotiating with the North on other pending issues as soon as the circumstances are met.
l In order to build mutual trust, the South delegation also urged the North to stop reviling the South Korean president which the North has continued even after the first round of inter-Korean meeting on April 21.
l The North delegation insisted on prioritizing the issue of increasing land royalty to $500 million and refused to negotiate the agenda that we presented.
- We made it clear that the North s unreasonable demand to increase land royalty must be rescinded.
l The next round of inter-Korean working-level meeting will be decided through negotiations between the two sides.
Ministry of Unification
