Pyongyang, August 11: North Korea will free a South Korean worker in the next few days after detaining him for nearly five months for allegedly insulting the country’s rulers, South Korean media said on Tuesday, quoting informed sources.
The release could decrease tension on the Korean peninsula that has risen following the North’s May 25 nuclear test and threats to attack the South while easing concern among investors about a rupture in ties leading to chaos.
South Korean TV news broadcaster YTN said the release of the man identified by his family name Yoo could take place on Wednesday, while others expected it by the end of the week. A Unification Ministry official would not comment on the reports.
Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of the vast Hyundai Group, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in projects in North Korea, went to Pyongyang on Monday to seek Yoo’s release.
The visit took place a week after former U.S. President Bill Clinton met leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang and secured the freedom of two U.S. journalists who had been held by the North since March for suspected illegal entry.
Yoo has been held since late March at a joint factory park located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. About 100 South Korean firms use cheap North Korean labour and land to make goods at the park.
NORTH MAY EXPLOIT TRIPS
The North’s propaganda machine will portray the trips by Clinton and Hyun as leaders paying tribute to Kim, analysts said.
This will help erase doubts about his grip on power after the 67-year-old Kim was suspected of suffering a stroke last year and also help him press forward with his succession plans.
Repairing ties with Hyundai could also bolster the North’s state coffers, hit by U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test as well as a cut in aid from the South, which once sent handouts equal in value to about 5 percent of the North’s yearly economy.
Hyundai’s Hyun said she wanted to restart a joint mountain resort in North Korea visited by more than 1 million South Koreans. It was shut last year after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier after wandering into a military area.
“North Korea is hoping for a monetary link that could mean more cooperation in the Kaesong complex, restarting tourism at the Kumgang resort or stopping South Korea’s anti-North movement,” said Cho Myung-chul, an expert on the North’s economy at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
North Korea, which makes tens of millions of dollars from the Kaesong factory park, used to receive a steady stream of cash from the Kumgang resort, operated by a Hyundai affiliate.
—Agencies