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S.Korean firm quits DPRK factory zone

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-09 14:02

SEOUL -- A South Korean fur coat maker has become the first firm to pull out of a joint industrial complex in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), officials said on Tuesday.

DPRK has seen a steady unconditional flow of aid from the South largely cut off after President Lee Myung-bak took office last year vowing to end handouts and instead tie aid to efforts Pyongyang makes to dismantle its nuclear arms programme.

Related readings:  DPRK jails American reporters for 12 years  Report: DPRK issues ship ban in coastal waters  Clinton says US mulls relisting DPRK  Yonhap: S.Korea makes plans to counter DPRK missile  S Korea to meet with DPRK at joint park next week

Pyongyang has test-fired a long-range rocket and conducted a nuclear test. The UN Security Council is considering new sanctions against DPRK.

Analysts said the fur company's decision to leave Kaesong factory park just north of the heavily armed border could prompt others to do the same.

About 100 South Korean firms operate from the complex that is the only major link between the states and was hailed as a model of future economic cooperation when the project began about six years ago.

But trade between the two states in the four months this year has fallen to a quarter of last year's level, South Korea's customs office said.

Samyang Fur's decision to pull out of DPRK came ahead of Thursday's negotiations on Pyongyang's demand for higher wage and rent payments from the South Korean firms at the park.

Samyang Fur has seen its orders drop sharply with buyers worrying about receiving deliveries on time after Pyongyang began to limit traffic across the border from about the end of 2008.

"A clothing company has notified us of its plan to shut down operations in Kaesong and pull out," a South Korean Unification Ministry official said.