Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
North, South Korea talk factory park; U.S. tracks ship
Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:44pm EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korean officials meet on Friday to discuss Pyongyang's demands for salary and rent increases at a joint factory park in the cash-starved communist state that is one of its few sources of hard currency.
The talks come as the U.S. Navy tracks a North Korean ship under new U.N. sanctions that bar Pyongyang from trading in weapons, including missile parts and nuclear material.
North Korea may be looking to launch a long-range missile toward Hawaii in the coming weeks, news reports said.
That would be in defiance of U.N. resolutions but could be part of an attempt to consolidate leader Kim Jong-il's power in preparation for succession in Asia's only communist dynasty, South Korean officials say.
Previous rounds of talks between North and South Korean officials over the Kaesong Industrial Complex have hit snags over the money and Pyongyang's refusal to meet Seoul's demands to release a South Korean worker held at the park for supposedly insulting the North's communist system.
"We will be demanding the speedy release of our worker who has been held for more than 80 days," the South's chief delegate Kim Young-tak said before he crossed the heavily armed border into the North for the Kaesong talks.
North Korea has demanded wages of $300 a month per person for the about 40,000 North Koreans employed in Kaesong, up from around $70 now. The North also wants lease payments of $500 million over 50 years, an increase of more than 30 fold from the current deal.
A South Korean fur coat maker pulled out of the Kaesong complex this month, the first to do so, citing declining orders from wary buyers and concerns about its workers' safety.
North Korea in May said it was cancelling all wage, rent and tax agreements at Kaesong in what analysts said was likely a bid to squeeze more money out of the more than 100 South Korean firms that use the cheap labor and land there.
MISSILES AND SHIPS
The U.S. monitoring of the North's ship, which left port on Wednesday, is the first under the U.N. sanctions adopted last week after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test and warned of firing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
U.S. officials declined to say what the ship, called the Kang Nam, might be carrying but said it had become "a subject of interest".
"North Korea will endlessly try to export arms. They are unable to shake this thought off their minds because exporting arms is a very profitable business compared to other goods," said Cho Myung-chul, an expert on the North's economy at the South's Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
The U.S. Treasury Department warned banks on Thursday that North Korea may increasingly try to use cash transactions to evade U.N. sanctions aimed at cutting off financing to its nuclear program.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington was concerned about the possibility of North Korea firing off more missiles, possibly toward Hawaii. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
New York city quality of life offenders get a break
Iran's presidential election
Aftermath of Iran's election
Up-to-the-minute news, photos and video of the aftermath of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election in Iran. Full Coverage
More International News
Thousands mourn Iranians killed in protests
| Video
Thailand's Muslim south gripped by fear
U.S. drones kill 9 in Waziristan: Pakistan officials
Myanmar's Suu Kyi turns 64 amid outrage over trial
Suicide bomber kills Somali security minister
| Video
More International News...
Related News
FACTBOX: South Korea's industrial park in the North
18 Jun 2009
FACTBOX: North Korea's missile arsenal
18 Jun 2009
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
"Twilight" star Pattinson hit by taxi as flees fans
PETA miffed at President Obama's fly "execution" | Video
'Something different" happening with new flu - CDC
Woody Allen eyes Carla Bruni for film role
Obama facing some doubts among Americans
WRAPUP 2-Stanford in US court Friday in massive fraud case
Senate keeps car sales stimulus in war bill
North, South Korea talk factory park; U.S. tracks ship
First hard evidence found of a lake on Mars
WRAPUP 2-Stanford surrenders to FBI, in court Friday
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Salinger wins first court round
Tornado touches down in Nebraska
Internet video: Iranians mourn
Princes reporting for photo-op duty
Obama kills a pesky fly
The trouble with Tweeting about Iran
Iranians mourn with mass rally
Berlusconi in escort allegations
Somali PM fears 100s killed by bomb
Iranian bloggers upload clash video
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
We want to hear from you
Join the Reuters Consumer Insight Panel and help us get to know you better
Please take a moment to complete our survey
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.