Civilian sector to take over tasks of foundation for shuttered inter-Korean factory park

SEOUL, The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a revision that would transfer the tasks of a foundation meant to support the now-shuttered inter-Korean joint factory park to the civilian sector. The revision of the enforcement decree of the act on support for the Kaesong Industrial Complex is set to take effect next week, paving the way for the foundation to be dismantled, according to the unification ministry handling the inter-Korean affairs. The foundation -- set up in 2007 to support the operation of the factory park -- has almost ceased to function since South Korea shut down the complex in 2016 in protest of North Korea's nuclear test and its long-range missile launch at the time. The ministry said in December that North Korea had been operating around 30 South Korean-owned facilities at the complex without South Korea's authorization. The factory park, once a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, was home to more than 120 small South Korean plants that produced garments and other labor-intensive goods by employing more than 54,300 North Korean workers. Amid frosty inter-Korean relations, North Korea blew up the joint liaison office in the Kaesong complex in 2020 in anger over Seoul's failure to stop North Korean defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. Source: Yonhap News Agency