정부, 개성공단 기업인 방북 승인... "국민 재산보호 차원"
South Korea has decided to allow businesspeople to go to the Gaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea... to check on their assets there for the first time in three years.
The government says it'll be working with the North to get them there.
We have our Kan Hyeong-woo at the Unification Ministry on the line for us. Hyeong-woo, tell us the latest.
Well Da-eun, as you said, the South Korean government has decided to allow these businesspeople, who had equipment and facilities at the Gaesong Complex, to go there for the first time since it was shut down in 2016.
The Unification Ministry held a press briefing about an hour ago. Let's take a listen.
"The government has approved this trip to the North as it relates to the protection of South Korean people's property. The government will do its utmost to ensure that the businesspeople can check on their assets."
The Unification Ministry said the trip will be made by around 200 personnel.
The National Security Council on the same day also said that it's going provide support for the trip so that it can happen soon.
This was the 9th time the business owners had requested approval. The government had turned them down eight separate times over roughly the last three years.
Seoul has repeatedly explained to Washington that the purpose of the trip to Gaeseong is so the South Koreans can check up on their equipment and facilities and that it has nothing to do with resuming the operation of the complex.
A position the Unification Ministry says the U.S. fully understands.
But for the trip to happen,... Pyeongyang has to cooperate.
The Unification Ministry says it has spoken with North Korea about the trip... but isn't giving any more detail about how or when the two Koreas will have discussions.
The businesspeople who asked to go to Gaeseong welcomed the government's decision,... but for this trip to be meaningful,... they need to be able to inspect their machines and find ways to keep them maintained.
So we don't know when the businesspeople will get to actually go there. But tell us more about the Gaeseong Industrial Complex itself.
So Aram, the Industrial Complex in Gaeseong first opened in 2004.
It was the result of the peace-building atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula after the first-ever inter-Korean summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000.
It's been a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation and one of the major cross-border projects.
But it wasn't without its share of problems.
Some 120 companies had to leave their assets behind when South Korea announced the shutdown of the complex in February 2016 after North Korea conducted a nuclear test and rocket launches.
During the third Moon-Kim summit last September,... the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to reopen the complex as soon as the right conditions were in place.
The reopening of the complex might be a long shot for now,... but the businesspeople wh
