From the North’s perspective why would they want to globalize the Kaesong Industrial Complex? It has worked as a great bargaining chip for them over the years to get what they want from the South Koreans:
South Korea called on North Korea to be more cooperative in luring foreign investors to their joint industrial complex in the North on Monday, the eve of the first anniversary of its reopening.
Seoul’s unification ministry said the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) has been almost fully normalized despite a six-month hiatus from March last year.
The North, however, has maintained a lukewarm attitude toward agreed-upon working-level meetings to discuss ways to develop the facilities, where 125 South Korean firms employ more than 52,000 North Korean workers, according to the ministry.
“The globalization of the KIC has made little progress due to North Korea’s uncooperative stance,” it said in a press release. “North Korea will have to do what it should do for dialogue (on the future of the KIC) and its globalization.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but to the South Koreans globalizing Kaesong likely means getting as many Chinese companies as possible in there to make it harder for the North Koreans to shut down again.
