Last ordersWHEN, in a hissy fit, North Korea shut down the Kaesong industrial zone almost three years ago, pulling out its workers and expelling their South Korean managers, many were puzzled as to why the conservative administration of Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s president, would work so hard to restart it. A product of the “sunshine policy” of her left-leaning predecessors, the factories just north of the border kept alive a few of South Korea’s twilight industries, producing low-grade shoes and clothes with subsidies from the South and cheap labour from the North.
The joint zone opened again five months later, after seven rounds of talks. But on February 10th it was South Korea’s turn to pull the plug on the complex, for the first time since it opened in 2004. Ms Park announced a complete suspension of operations. Few expect it to reopen during her presidency, which ends in December 2017. The North swiftly cut hotlines, expelled businesses and put its army in charge of the area. The last real point of contact between the two Koreas is no more.
If earlier efforts to save Kaesong tried to show Ms...Continue reading
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