[Photo] Kaesong Complex businesses plead for Trump to exempt them from sanctions

The Corporate Association of Gaesong Industrial Complex (sic) held a press conference in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square on Apr. 8, calling for US President Donald Trump to exempt the Kaesong Industrial Complex from UN sanctions on North Korea. They sent Trump an open letter saying that some of the companies have already begun the liquidation process because of their inability to conduct business amid sanctions. “Our lives depend on the reopening of the GIC,” the letter read. “In our desperation, we have prepared this letter of please to you, Mr. President.” (provided by the Corporate Association of Gaesong Industrial Complex)

April 8, 2019

The Honorable Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

First and foremost, we South Korean business owners in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in the DPRK would like to express our sincere gratitude to you for opening up a new chapter in the history of the Korean Peninsula.

You have brought about a turning point to the Korean situation where Koreans were trapped in a constant fear of war. Unlike your predecessors, you took a new approach to bring a fundamental solution to the Korean Problem. Your lofty decision and will to denuclearize and bring peace to the Korean Peninsula rekindled our hopes for the future, and we would like to convey our deepest respect to you and salute you.

We have been seeking the reopening of the GIC, which was forced to close due to an order in February 2016 by the former South Korean President to discontinue our operations within the GIC.

Some of our companies were already liquidated, some are in the liquidation process, and there’s even a business owner who died due to his emotional devastation. Our lives depend on the reopening of the GIC. In our desperation, we have prepared this letter of plea to you, Mr. President.

We are desperate people devastated by financial collapse. We believe that you, as a former business owner and employer of tens of thousands of employees, will understand the plight of those who are currently suffering from unspeakable despair and financial hardships due to the closure of the GIC.

To us, our factories in the GIC are just like our children. We have lost our children. We pray that you will help modify or suspend sanctions?we understand you don’t have to terminate them right now?to reopen the gates of the GIC so that we can humbly and gratefully go and find our lost children in the GIC.

We wish the very best for you and American people.

Respectfully yours,

GI SEOB, JEONG

Representative

Corporate Association of Gaeseong Industrial Complex

원문보기:

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/defense/889138.html#csidx9b48e6548ee5f85a8643ebdfa3e3ec6