South Korea working on law that would ease restrictions on business with North
The South Korean government has said it is looking into passing a law that would ease restrictions on business contacts with the North, but without any breach of sanctions.
Yoh Sang-key, an official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said that the process is not aimed at compromising international sanctions against North Korea in any way.
‘The envisioned revision is nothing more than upgrading an already existing regulation into a formal law,’ the state-run Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying.
‘We determined that exchanges and cooperation between the South and the North will contribute to improving inter-Korean relations and advancing peace on the Korean Peninsula,’ he added. ‘I would like to say that we do not intend to use the law revision as an opportunity to abruptly speed up inter-Korean relations.’
The move comes as South Korea is trying to expand cross-border exchanges with the North. Relations between the two countries have been almost stalled amid little progress in denuclearisation talks between Pyongyang and Washington and constraints under global sanctions.
According to Yonhap, the draft law aims to reduce the range of inter-Korean contacts that are subject to regulations and that call for mandatory reporting to authorities. Officials also are considering whether to require cabinet involvement before any project with the North is restricted or banned.
The draft law is expected to be sent to parliament at the end of this year.
