TOKYO (Sputnik) – Pyongyang suspended all emergency contact lines with Seoul after South Korean staff walked out of Kaesong last Wednesday in protest of North Korea’s long-range rocket launch on Sunday.
"The workers in Kaesong were paid in cash in US dollars, but the money did not go directly to these workers. Instead, they went to the government of North Korea. It has been confirmed from various sources that kickbacks to the ruling party accounted for about 70 percent," the ministry said.
Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said on South Korean television that "any monthly foreign currency earned in Noth Korea goes to the Workers’ Party, where this money is being used to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, or to buy luxury goods."
There were 124 South Korean companies operating at Kaesong, producing clothes, footwear, watches and other goods, with over 54,000 North Korean employees earning a minimum of $70.35 a month.
Despite limited industrial cooperation, South and North Korea are still legally at war as no peace treaty between them was signed after the Korean War of 1950-1953.
