Ahead of Trump-Kim summit, South Korean firms in Vietnam dream of return to North Korea

Record ID: 1396855

  • Title: Ahead of Trump-Kim summit, South Korean firms in Vietnam dream of return to North Korea
  • Date: 24th February 2019
  • Summary: HANOI, VIETNAM (RECENT - FEBRUARY 11, 2019) (REUTERS) VIETNAMESE FLAGS AND HAMMER AND SICKLE FLAGS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING IN VIETNAM HANOI, VIETNAM (FEBRUARY 22, 2019) (REUTERS) SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT OF GARMENT MAKER DMF, WHO USED TO RUN FACTORY IN KAESONG, CHOI DONG-JIN, CHECKING CLOTHES PRODUCTS SPEC SHEETS FOR CLOTHES PRODUCTS CHOI SHOWING JEANS (SOUNDBITE) (Korean)
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2019 01:57
  • Keywords: Vietnam summit Kim Jong Un Hanoi joint industrial zone factory Trump Kaesong South Korea U.S. North Korea
  • Location: KAESONG, PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA/ PAJU, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA/ HANOI, BAC GIANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM
  • City: KAESONG, PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA/ PAJU, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA/ HANOI, BAC GIANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA00AA2XVEIV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:In early 2016, Choi Dong-jin and some 120 other South Korean business owners reluctantly shuttered factories at a jointly run North Korean industrial park after Seoul ordered the facility closed following a long-range rocket test by Pyongyang.
    In search of cheap labour, Choi moved his garment manufacturing business to Vietnam, joining around a quarter of the factory owners from the giant Kaesong Industrial Complex who relocated to Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia.
    Three years on, Choi and other manufacturers operating in Vietnam say they are struggling to break even due to higher transportation and labour costs and weaker sales.
    They hope the upcoming second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi will lead to an easing of sanctions on North Korea and a revival of the Kaesong facility.
    "We've eagerly looked forward to the inter-Korean economic cooperation to get better and be restarted soon as the North and South Korean relation is improving. However, as time goes by, we feel like it just gave us false hope and nothing's getting better," said Choi, president of garment maker DMF, adding no other place is better than Kaesong, since they speak the same language.
    In a New Year address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said inter-Korean relations have now entered a completely new phase, and he is willing to resume key joint economic projects with the South including the factory park in Kaesong without conditions.
    However, a group of South Korea's Kaesong factory owners worried about the international sanctions and hope the upcoming summit in Hanoi would help them from facing deficits.
    "Turning a profit from a deficit is the supreme task for the companies. In that aspect, we expect very much about the upcoming summit in Hanoi," said Kim Seo-jin, a managing director of Corporate Association of Kaesong Industrial Complex.
    The Trump administration has previously said there would be no easing of sanctions until North Korea completely relinquishes its nuclear arsenal.
    But a week before his second summit with Kim, Trump signalled a possible softening of stance, saying he would love to be able to take sanctions off if there is meaningful progress on denuclearisation.
    (Production: Thinh Nguyen, Hyunyoung Yi, Minwoo Park, Daewoung Kim)
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