o The South Korean government sent its official notification that it cannot accept the unilateral February 26th notice from North Korea with respect to Gaeseong Industrial Complex labor regulations, and it offered to hold a meeting of the South-North Joint Committee for the complex on March 13, 2015 to resolve the matter according to the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement.
- The North refused to receive the South's notification for no justifiable reason, and the South Korean government clearly delivered the notification in oral form to the North.
o Since last year, the North has taken actions detrimental to the further development of the inter-Korean industrial complex, including delaying the implementation of an agreement made in relation to the three key issues of customs, transportation, and communications; amending the detailed enforcement regulations of the Business Start-up and Operation Rules without consultation with the South to insert a provision that allows the North to detain South Korean businessmen; and failing to implement a tax-exemption agreement.
o As the two nations agreed to hold the Joint Committee meeting quarterly and its sub-committee meetings monthly, the South has been calling for the Secretariat of the Joint Committee to hold the meetings. The North has failed to abide by the South-North agreement concerning such meetings.
- All matters related to the industrial complex located in Gaeseong, North Korea, cannot be resolved without inter-Korean dialogue and consensus. If the North has any intent to advance the industrial complex project, it should stop its unilateral actions and come to the dialogue table in order to resolve such pending issues.
o The South Korean government officially urged the North again to hold the 6th Joint Committee meeting at the industrial complex on March 13, 2015 in order to negotiate and resolve the matters of mutual interest including the labor regulation issue.
