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the remaining group of south korean workers in the inter-korean gaeseong industrial complex
will be crossing the border into the south later this afternoon.
as they leave their factories behind they also leave an uncertain fate for the south
korean companies they represent.
for more let's go over to arirang's hwang sung-hee at paju close to the inter-korean
border.
sung-hee what's the latest
daniel in just a few hours -- at 5 p.m. --
all 50 remaining south korean personnel will be making their way home from the gaeseong
industrial complex.
the manufacturing zone shared by the two koreas once accommodated 53-thousand workers from
north korea and around 8-hundred from the south.
after their departure there will be no south korean personnel at the complex leading to
a complete shutdown of operations there.
we must note however that the north has not yet approved the departure.
just to recap north korea banned south korean workers from entering the complex and removed
all of its workers earlier this month... escal ating tensions between the two koreas.
until now the south korean companies with factories in gaeseong had kept a minimal number
of employees within the complex to oversee operations.
but seoul's unification ministry ordered the companies to clear out all remaining workers
last friday... after pyongyang rejected seoul 's proposal for talks on the gaeseong shutdown
.
sung-hee the economic losses that a complete shutdown would bring to the south korean business
es must be huge.
what is the government doing to ease the blow
there are 1-hundred-23 south korean business es that run factories in gaeseong and they
could lose up to 6 billion u.s. dollars if the joint business park closes down for good
.
that includes the money that went into building the complex and the losses incurred due to
the sudden halt of operations earlier this month.
to minimize the losses the south korean government has formed a special task force on gaeseong
.. and it had its first meeting earlier this morning.
the task force proposed giving the companies loans from the inter-korean cooperation fund
and other forms of support.
but it's also important to note the symbolic value of the gaeseong industrial complex because
it is the last remaining beacon of cooperation between the two koreas.
once the complex completely shuts down there will be no political link no communication
and no ties between the north and the south .
the companies meanwhile asked the government on saturday to allow them to visit north korea
. daniel.
thank you sung-hee... and please keep us updated throughout the day as the story develops.
that was our hwang sung-hee with the latest on the possible shut down of the inter-korean
gaeseong industrial complex.