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Vocal critic of industrial complex will see it firsthand
The U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights issues, Jay Lefkowitz, is scheduled to visit the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea on July 18, South Korean officials said yesterday. "Lefkowitz will inspect the human rights conditions of North Korean workers there, and Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok is going to meet him the next day and exchange opinions regarding the issue," the official said.Lefkowitz, during a visit to South Korea December last year, attempted to meet then-Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon, but the meeting was not able to take place. At a forum held in Washington at the end of March, Lefkowitz denounced the wages paid to North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex as extremely low. In a Wall Street Journal article in April, Lefkowitz said the Kaesong project is funneling a huge amount of money to the Kim Jong-il regime. The Unification Ministry in Seoul dismissed his remarks as groundless and suggested he visit Kaesong. North Korea last week sent a letter approving his visit to the industrial complex.
