Workers at the Kaesong industrial complex.
North Korea has agreed to extend a deadline to settle a dispute over the payment of wages by South Korean factory owners to workers at the Kaesong joint industrial zone, a businessman said yesterday. The North announced in February that it would unilaterally raise the wages of more than 50,000 North Korean workers employed by 125 South Korean firms operating in Kaesong, just north of the border between the two countries. South Korea demurred, insisting that under a previous agreement employment conditions in the zone could only be adjusted with the agreement of both sides. North Korea agreed to extend the deadline that expired yesterday, Yoo Chang-Geun, vice president of an association of factory owners, told Yonhap news agency. “The North decided to extend the deadline until April 24. None of the South Korean firms have paid the wages,” he was quoted as saying. The Seoul government has urged them not to yield, but South Korean owners have said they could not simply reject the North’s demand.
