Korea Times | 29 October 2006

EU Members to Visit Kaesong Complex

By Kim Sue-young

Staff Reporter

Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union (EU) will visit the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea, today.

The delegation consists of French politician Gerard Onesta, a vice president of the legislature, and seven others, including Austrian Hubert Pirker, the Ministry of Unification said yesterday.

It is the first visit by a delegation of the EU parliament to the complex.

The complex is a major inter-Korean cooperation project, but it has become a target of criticism by local people as well as the international community since the Stalinist state’s nuclear test on Oct. 9.

During the visit, the EU delegates will meet with Kim Dong-keun, president of the complex’s Industrial Management Committee, and make an on-site inspection of corporations in the complex, the ministry said.

On Nov. 1, they will meet South Korean Vice Unification Minister Shin Un-sang after returning from the trip.

The EU delegates and South Korean officials will discuss levying a preferential tariff on Kaesong products for a South Korea-EU free trade agreement (FTA).

South Korea and the EU had two rounds of preliminary discussions for the FTA after agreeing to study the possibility of signing the trade pact during a meeting of trade ministers in May last year.