North Korea, which has been holding hundreds of South Korean workers employed at the Kaesong Industrial Park on the North-West coast, has finally allowed them to leave.
The industrial park employs some 450 South Korean managers who have been detained since last week, apparently in response to strong statements about the DPRK made by South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak.
The Kaesong Industrial Park, which opened in 2004, is one of North Korea’s few sources of foreign currency and is now only operating on a minimum level due to the political dispute. South Koreans and South Korean cargo have also been blocked from crossing the border.
The dispute damages North Korea’s ability to attract foreign investors, with an expert on North Korea at Dongguk University stating that the workers had been detained as “hostages” and that the DPRK was using the project as collateral to serve political, rather than economic purposes.