2 Koreas Agree on Land Use Fee at Kaesong Complex
North and South Korea have finally reached agreement on one of the issues that have bedeviled the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North.
The two sides have set the land use fee South Korean companies must pay at US$0.64 per square meter a year, the Unification Ministry announced Thursday.
That means an extra $500,000 in annual costs for the firms, the ministry said. The agreement ends wrangling that started in November last year but leaves several other long-standing issues open.
The deal comes despite North Korea's sabotage just a few days ago of political talks between the two sides. But Nam Sung-wook at Korea University said Pyongyang can afford to play a long game over those issues, but it needs urgent cash for a Workers Party congress in May "and has always been a lot more pragmatic when it comes to money matters."
The two sides have set the land use fee South Korean companies must pay at US$0.64 per square meter a year, the Unification Ministry announced Thursday.
That means an extra $500,000 in annual costs for the firms, the ministry said. The agreement ends wrangling that started in November last year but leaves several other long-standing issues open.
The deal comes despite North Korea's sabotage just a few days ago of political talks between the two sides. But Nam Sung-wook at Korea University said Pyongyang can afford to play a long game over those issues, but it needs urgent cash for a Workers Party congress in May "and has always been a lot more pragmatic when it comes to money matters."
englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 28, 2015 11:20 KST
