Unification Minister Lee In-young speaks during a meeting with business leaders in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The government is seeking to revive deadlocked inter-Korean economic projects, including the reopening of a joint factory park, expecting that cross-border cooperation could resume earlier than some forecast.

Unification Minister Lee In-young held a meeting with business leaders in Seoul, Monday, to gauge their opinions on the plan as part of the government's re-launching of the Korean Peninsula peace process initiative. Representatives from local companies, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG that accompanied President Moon Jae-in on his visit to Pyongyang in September 2018, participated.

The meeting took place as the situation on the peninsula is seen as facing a crucial turning point ahead of a U.S. leadership change next year, which could have a huge impact on inter-Korean ties. Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th U.S. president on Jan. 20, 2021. The Ministry of Unification said the meeting was arranged so the government and companies could discuss measures to help inter-Korean relations, stalled since the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi in February last year failed to reach a deal, take a step forward in the future.

"While building an environment for economic cooperation between the two Koreas, the government plans to reignite inter-Korean projects such as individual tours to the North by South Koreans, cross-border railway and road connections and the resumption of work at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex," Lee said.

The factory park in the North Korean city of Gaeseong, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation, was closed by the Park Geun-hye administration in February 2016 after the North conducted its fourth nuclear test and launched long-range missiles. The two Koreas opened a joint liaison office in Gaeseong in September 2018 amid improvements in inter-Korean ties following summits between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but the North demolished the building in June this year.

Since the unification minister, a long-time advocate of engagement with the North, took office in July, he has strived to promote cross-border economic exchanges between the two sides, pursuing "small-scale trading" with the North that would not be subject to international sanctions.

The minister also said the timing was favorable for the government's economic drive.

"The North is scheduled to hold its eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party in January next year, in which economic growth is expected to remain at the top of the agenda, due to this year's triple hits from the COVID-19 pandemic, international sanctions and flood damage," Lee said.

"If a COVID-19 vaccine is fully developed and denuclearization talks between the United States and the North make progress, during which international sanctions on the country are eased, inter-Korean economic cooperation is likely to happen sooner than expected."

Given that President-elect Biden has been critical of meeting North Korean leader Kim without preconditions, speculation is rampant that relations between Washington and Pyongyang are likely to get worse than under the Donald Trump administration, thereby negatively affecting inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation. Progress in inter-Korean relations has historically depended on those between the U.S. and the North.

However, Lee does not buy into this idea.

"President-elect Biden has left room for a meeting with Kim on the condition that the North draws down its nuclear capacity, while mentioning the need to provide a future vision through a proper mixture of toughening and easing sanctions on the North. In one sense, he hinted that his administration may adopt a more flexible approach to the North," he said.