Kaesong Industrial Complex (Kaesong Industrial Zone) (Photo: Google image)
DPRK state media published a statement of the General Bureau for Central Guidance on 30 March (Saturday) about the status of the Kaeso’ng Industrial Zone [Kaeso'ng Industrial Complex] which said that the country “exercised self-restraint, taking into consideration that the closure of the zone on which the livelihood of small and medium businesses of south Korea hinge can leave those businesses bankrupt and lots of people jobless” but ”if the puppet group seeks to tarnish the image of the DPRK even a bit, while speaking of the zone whose operation has been barely maintained, we will shut down the zone without mercy.” The statement was issued after an unattributed statement was published in state media that said “North-South relations have been put in a state of war,” but South Korean [ROK] media reported that South Koreans were commuting into Kaeso’ng. The General Bureau for Central Guidance also directly replied to South Korean media reporting which reiterates that the Kaeso’ng complex “is a major source of hard currency for the impoverished communist nation.”
According to KCNA, the General Bureau for Central Guidance’s statement was:
The north-south military hotline was cut off as the Korean Armistice Agreement has been completely nullified, creating a warlike situation.
There exists neither a channel for dialog nor any communications means between the north and the south.
The entry into the Kaesong Industrial Zone by the south side’s personnel has been put in jeopardy.
No one can see an inch ahead as regards the destiny of the Kaesong Industrial Zone.
But the puppet group of south Korea, its dutiful media and hack writers are saying that “the north does not take up the issue of the zone because it is a source for its foreign currency income” and talking about “two faces of the north”. They are even insulting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK.
It is an extremely unusual thing that the Kaesong Industrial Zone is still in existence under the grave situation in which the north-south relations have plunged into a deadlock and the Korean Peninsula is on the verge of a war due to the U.S. and the south Korean warmongers’ vicious moves for igniting a nuclear war against the DPRK.
Under the situation, the south Korean puppet forces are left with no face to make complaint even though we ban the south side’s personnel’s entry into the zone and close it.
But we have exercised self-restraint, taking into consideration that the closure of the zone on which the livelihood of small and medium businesses of south Korea hinge can leave those businesses bankrupt and lots of people jobless.
In fact, it is the puppet group and small and medium businesses of south Korea, not the DPRK, which benefit from the zone.
But the paid media and media men of south Korea have gone thoughtless to become vocal about the zone just like imbeciles bereft of elementary ability for assessing the situation.
If the puppet group seeks to tarnish the image of the DPRK even a bit, while speaking of the zone whose operation has been barely maintained, we will shut down the zone without mercy.
The south Korean group should clearly know that its short tongue may bring it an irretrievable misfortune.
The DPRK does whatever it says it will and the future of the zone entirely depends on the attitude of the south Korean puppet group.
The south side’s businessmen operational in the zone should clearly face up to the situation and reject the rhetoric of the group and its paid media who act just like a “thief crying stop the thief”.
We will closely follow the movement of the puppet group and the reactionary media.
We warn that we will take a resolute measure, should rhetoric insulting the dignity of the DPRK continues.
Filed under: 2012-2013 KPA Winter Training Cycle, 2013 tactical rhetoric, Central Committee, Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF), critical infrastructure, DPRK Cabinet, DPRK External Relations, DPRK Intelligence Community, DPRK Legal System, Gen. Kim Yong Chol, General Bureau for Central Guidance, Inter-Korean Relations, Kaesong (Kaeso'ng), Korean Workers' Party (KWP), kpa mission to panmunjom, Ministry of State Security, National Defense Commission (NDC), NDC Administration Department, NDC Policy Department, North Korean press, population control, Secretariat, State Security Department, United Front Department
