It was a unique co-operation between two bitter foes: an industrial park that combined South Korean capital with 54,000 North Korean workers.

這是兩個宿敵之間一項獨特的合作項目：一個融合了韓國資本與5.4萬名朝鮮工人的工業園。

Now Seoul’s decision to shut the Kaesong park, 10km inside North Korean territory, has thrown into doubt the prospects for the 124 companies operating there — as well as the future co-operation between the Koreas and the stability of the divided peninsula.

如今，首爾方面決定關閉位于朝韓邊境以北10公里的開城工業園(Kaesong Industrial Complex)，這項決定不僅給在園區運營的124家企業的前景打上了問號，還給朝韓之間未來的合作以及這個分裂的半島的穩定蒙上了陰影。

“Litigation will be our last resort,” says Ok Sung-seek, who runs a clothing business at Kaesong and is vice-chairman of an investors’ association. “We trusted the [South Korean] government and invested there, not just for profits, but also to help the effort towards reunification.”

“不得已的話我們只能起訴，”在開城工業園經營制衣業務、同時擔任一家投資者協會副會長的Ok Sung-seek說，“我們信任（韓國）政府，在這里進行投資，不只為了獲得利潤，也是為了幫助實現統一。”

Last week’s “complete shutdown” of Kaesong came three days after Pyongyang breached international sanctions by testing a nuclear bomb and launching a long-range rocket.

首爾方面上周宣布“徹底關閉”開城工業園，是對此前平壤方面違反國際制裁決議進行核彈試驗和發射遠程火箭的回應。

The government of Park Geun-hye, which has taken a stern approach to the security threat from North Korea, said it closed the complex to cut off a source of funding for Pyongyang’s increasingly dangerous nuclear programme. But liberal politicians say it has destroyed a unique means of promoting economic and ideological change in the North.

面對朝鮮對韓國國家安全構成的威脅，樸槿惠(Park Geun-hye)政府作出了嚴厲的回應，稱關閉開城工業園是為了切斷平壤方面越來越危險的核計劃的資金來源。但開明派政治人士表示，此舉毀掉了促成朝鮮經濟與意識形態轉變的一項獨特手段。

The park, opened in 2004, was born out of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 at the outset of the “sunshine policy” pursued by two successive liberal South Korean administrations.

于2004年啟動的開城工業園是2000年首次韓朝峰會的成果。2000年，韓國開始對朝推行“陽光政策”(sunshine policy)，這一政策為連續兩屆開明派韓國政府所奉行。

But the project’s growth was slower than hoped, coming mostly from small companies in labour-intensive “sunset” industries such as clothing manufacturing. New investment was suspended altogether by then South Korean president Lee Myung-bak in 2010, after an investigation found North Korea had sunk one of the South’s naval vessels.

但開城工業園項目的發展速度并不盡如人意，園區的發展主要來自成衣制造等勞動密集型“夕陽”產業的小企業。2010年，在一項調查發現朝鮮擊沉了一艘韓國軍艦后，時任韓國總統的李明博(Lee Myung-bak)全面中止了對該園區的新投資。

Mr Lee resisted calls to close the park, despite complaints from some conservatives that the “wages” of the workers were paid by employers to Pyongyang.

李明博抵制住了關于關閉開城工業園的呼聲，盡管一些保守派人士抱怨稱，雇主們將朝鮮工人的“工資”付給了平壤方面。

In 2024, when Pyongyang shut down Kaesong amid bilateral tensions, the two governments agreed “to guarantee the normal operation of the complex, [which was] not to be affected by inter-Korean situations under any circumstances”.

2024年，當平壤方面因朝韓雙邊關系緊張關閉開城工業園時，兩國政府一致同意“保證園區正常運轉，（園區）在任何情況下都不會受朝韓局勢影響”。

Seoul has justified its decision to reverse this pledge by saying the Won616bn ($506m) that flowed into North Korea helped fund nuclear weapon and missile development.

首爾方面為自己破除這一承諾找了一個理由，稱流入朝鮮的6160億韓元（合5.06億美元）資助了朝鮮的核武與導彈研發。

Hong Yong-pyo, unification minister, said this week 70 per cent of the money had been used for nuclear and missile development by Kim Jong Un’s regime.

韓國統一部部長洪容杓(Hong Yong-pyo)本周表示，這筆錢有70%被金正恩(Kim Jong Un)政權用于核武與導彈研發。

But when lawmakers pushed him for evidence to back the claim, noting that Seoul could have breached UN sanctions if it knowingly funded the North’s nuclear programme, he said the government did not have any. The ministry later backtracked on this and said it had evidence that could not be disclosed.

但當韓國國會議員敦促洪容杓拿出證據支持其說法時（議員們指出，如果韓國政府在知情的情況下資助了朝鮮的核計劃，那它可能已經違反了聯合國的制裁決議），他表示，政府手中并沒有任何證據。韓國統一部后來修正了這一聲明，表示有證據、但不能公開。

The confusion, which has prompted calls for Mr Hong’s resignation, has distracted from the real question, says Chun Yung-woo, head of the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, a think-tank.

智庫“朝鮮半島未來論壇”(Korean Peninsula Future Forum)負責人千英宇(Chun Yung-woo)表示，這種混亂（已引發了要求洪容杓辭職的呼聲）分散了對真正問題的注意力。

“It doesn’t make a difference whether Kim Jong Un uses money from this or that pocket,” he says. The industrial park had to be closed, he insists, to bolster South Korea’s diplomatic position as it pushes China and others to impose tougher sanctions against North Korea.

他說：“金正恩用的是這個兜里的錢還是那個兜里的錢并不重要。”他堅稱，開城工業園必須關閉，如此才能強化韓國的外交立場。目前，韓國正推動中國及其他國家對朝實施更嚴厲的制裁。

“How can we ask other countries to impose a secondary boycott on Chinese companies doing business with North Korea without closing Kaesong?” he asks.

“如果不關閉開城工業園，我們怎么能要求其他國家對與朝鮮做生意的中國企業實施間接抵制呢？”他反問道。

Tensions are likely to rise further in March when South Korea and the US begin their annual joint military exercises, which Pyongyang condemns as practice for invasion. “Shutting down all these channels is dangerous,” says Kim Jae-chun, a professor at Sogang University, adding that Kaesong would not be open again “for a long while”, if at all, given that South Korea had in effect condemned the logic for the project as long as North Korea pursues nuclear weapons. “I think South Korea raised the bar too high,” he says. “It is implausible for the North Korean government to get rid of these weapons of mass destruction altogether.”

今年3月，緊張局勢很可能進一步加劇。屆時，韓國與美國將展開年度聯合軍事演習。平壤方面譴責這些演習是為入侵朝鮮做演練。韓國西江大學(Sogang University)教授Kim Jae-chun表示：“關閉所有此類溝通渠道是危險的。”他補充說，開城工業園要想重開可能要等上“很長一段時間”——前提是真能重開的話——原因是韓國事實上已經宣稱，在朝鮮研發核武器的情況下該項目已無存在的道理。“我認為韓國將門檻抬得太高。”他說，“朝鮮政府不可能完全放棄這些大規模殺傷性武器。”

The impact of a permanent shutdown at Kaesong would be cushioned for Mr Ok by insurance payments and government compensation, but he believes it would be a disaster for his 300 North Korean employees.

對Ok Sung-seek來說，保險賠付和政府補償將會緩解開城工業園永久關閉給他造成的沖擊。但他認為，永久性關閉對他的300名朝鮮雇員來說將是一場災難。

“I believe a significant amount of money has been going to the workers,” he says, while conceding that he has never been told how much they receive.

他說：“我相信很大一部分錢到了這些工人手中。”但他也承認，他從未被告知他們拿到了多少錢。

In the years after he set up his factory in 2007, Mr Ok says, his workers — initially skinny and malnourished — became healthier. But when he returned after the five-month shutdown in 2024, that progress had sharply reversed.

Ok Sung-seek說，2007年設廠后的幾年里，他手下的工人從最初的皮包骨頭、營養不良變得健康起來。但在2024年，當他在園區關閉5個月后回到這里時，發現這一態勢已急劇逆轉。

“Everyone seemed to have lost weight,” he says. “They were going back to how they looked at the beginning.”

“每個人看上去都變瘦了，”他說，“他們又變回了剛來時的樣子。”

It was a unique co-operation between two bitter foes: an industrial park that combined South Korean capital with 54,000 North Korean workers.

這是兩個宿敵之間一項獨特的合作項目：一個融合了韓國資本與5.4萬名朝鮮工人的工業園。

Now Seoul’s decision to shut the Kaesong park, 10km inside North Korean territory, has thrown into doubt the prospects for the 124 companies operating there — as well as the future co-operation between the Koreas and the stability of the divided peninsula.

如今，首爾方面決定關閉位于朝韓邊境以北10公里的開城工業園(Kaesong Industrial Complex)，這項決定不僅給在園區運營的124家企業的前景打上了問號，還給朝韓之間未來的合作以及這個分裂的半島的穩定蒙上了陰影。

“Litigation will be our last resort,” says Ok Sung-seek, who runs a clothing business at Kaesong and is vice-chairman of an investors’ association. “We trusted the [South Korean] government and invested there, not just for profits, but also to help the effort towards reunification.”

“不得已的話我們只能起訴，”在開城工業園經營制衣業務、同時擔任一家投資者協會副會長的Ok Sung-seek說，“我們信任（韓國）政府，在這里進行投資，不只為了獲得利潤，也是為了幫助實現統一。”

Last week’s “complete shutdown” of Kaesong came three days after Pyongyang breached international sanctions by testing a nuclear bomb and launching a long-range rocket.

首爾方面上周宣布“徹底關閉”開城工業園，是對此前平壤方面違反國際制裁決議進行核彈試驗和發射遠程火箭的回應。

The government of Park Geun-hye, which has taken a stern approach to the security threat from North Korea, said it closed the complex to cut off a source of funding for Pyongyang’s increasingly dangerous nuclear programme. But liberal politicians say it has destroyed a unique means of promoting economic and ideological change in the North.

面對朝鮮對韓國國家安全構成的威脅，樸槿惠(Park Geun-hye)政府作出了嚴厲的回應，稱關閉開城工業園是為了切斷平壤方面越來越危險的核計劃的資金來源。但開明派政治人士表示，此舉毀掉了促成朝鮮經濟與意識形態轉變的一項獨特手段。

The park, opened in 2004, was born out of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 at the outset of the “sunshine policy” pursued by two successive liberal South Korean administrations.

于2004年啟動的開城工業園是2000年首次韓朝峰會的成果。2000年，韓國開始對朝推行“陽光政策”(sunshine policy)，這一政策為連續兩屆開明派韓國政府所奉行。

But the project’s growth was slower than hoped, coming mostly from small companies in labour-intensive “sunset” industries such as clothing manufacturing. New investment was suspended altogether by then South Korean president Lee Myung-bak in 2010, after an investigation found North Korea had sunk one of the South’s naval vessels.

但開城工業園項目的發展速度并不盡如人意，園區的發展主要來自成衣制造等勞動密集型“夕陽”產業的小企業。2010年，在一項調查發現朝鮮擊沉了一艘韓國軍艦后，時任韓國總統的李明博(Lee Myung-bak)全面中止了對該園區的新投資。

Mr Lee resisted calls to close the park, despite complaints from some conservatives that the “wages” of the workers were paid by employers to Pyongyang.

李明博抵制住了關于關閉開城工業園的呼聲，盡管一些保守派人士抱怨稱，雇主們將朝鮮工人的“工資”付給了平壤方面。

In 2024, when Pyongyang shut down Kaesong amid bilateral tensions, the two governments agreed “to guarantee the normal operation of the complex, [which was] not to be affected by inter-Korean situations under any circumstances”.

2024年，當平壤方面因朝韓雙邊關系緊張關閉開城工業園時，兩國政府一致同意“保證園區正常運轉，（園區）在任何情況下都不會受朝韓局勢影響”。

Seoul has justified its decision to reverse this pledge by saying the Won616bn ($506m) that flowed into North Korea helped fund nuclear weapon and missile development.

首爾方面為自己破除這一承諾找了一個理由，稱流入朝鮮的6160億韓元（合5.06億美元）資助了朝鮮的核武與導彈研發。

Hong Yong-pyo, unification minister, said this week 70 per cent of the money had been used for nuclear and missile development by Kim Jong Un’s regime.

韓國統一部部長洪容杓(Hong Yong-pyo)本周表示，這筆錢有70%被金正恩(Kim Jong Un)政權用于核武與導彈研發。

But when lawmakers pushed him for evidence to back the claim, noting that Seoul could have breached UN sanctions if it knowingly funded the North’s nuclear programme, he said the government did not have any. The ministry later backtracked on this and said it had evidence that could not be disclosed.

但當韓國國會議員敦促洪容杓拿出證據支持其說法時（議員們指出，如果韓國政府在知情的情況下資助了朝鮮的核計劃，那它可能已經違反了聯合國的制裁決議），他表示，政府手中并沒有任何證據。韓國統一部后來修正了這一聲明，表示有證據、但不能公開。

The confusion, which has prompted calls for Mr Hong’s resignation, has distracted from the real question, says Chun Yung-woo, head of the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, a think-tank.

智庫“朝鮮半島未來論壇”(Korean Peninsula Future Forum)負責人千英宇(Chun Yung-woo)表示，這種混亂（已引發了要求洪容杓辭職的呼聲）分散了對真正問題的注意力。

“It doesn’t make a difference whether Kim Jong Un uses money from this or that pocket,” he says. The industrial park had to be closed, he insists, to bolster South Korea’s diplomatic position as it pushes China and others to impose tougher sanctions against North Korea.

他說：“金正恩用的是這個兜里的錢還是那個兜里的錢并不重要。”他堅稱，開城工業園必須關閉，如此才能強化韓國的外交立場。目前，韓國正推動中國及其他國家對朝實施更嚴厲的制裁。

“How can we ask other countries to impose a secondary boycott on Chinese companies doing business with North Korea without closing Kaesong?” he asks.

“如果不關閉開城工業園，我們怎么能要求其他國家對與朝鮮做生意的中國企業實施間接抵制呢？”他反問道。

Tensions are likely to rise further in March when South Korea and the US begin their annual joint military exercises, which Pyongyang condemns as practice for invasion. “Shutting down all these channels is dangerous,” says Kim Jae-chun, a professor at Sogang University, adding that Kaesong would not be open again “for a long while”, if at all, given that South Korea had in effect condemned the logic for the project as long as North Korea pursues nuclear weapons. “I think South Korea raised the bar too high,” he says. “It is implausible for the North Korean government to get rid of these weapons of mass destruction altogether.”

今年3月，緊張局勢很可能進一步加劇。屆時，韓國與美國將展開年度聯合軍事演習。平壤方面譴責這些演習是為入侵朝鮮做演練。韓國西江大學(Sogang University)教授Kim Jae-chun表示：“關閉所有此類溝通渠道是危險的。”他補充說，開城工業園要想重開可能要等上“很長一段時間”——前提是真能重開的話——原因是韓國事實上已經宣稱，在朝鮮研發核武器的情況下該項目已無存在的道理。“我認為韓國將門檻抬得太高。”他說，“朝鮮政府不可能完全放棄這些大規模殺傷性武器。”

The impact of a permanent shutdown at Kaesong would be cushioned for Mr Ok by insurance payments and government compensation, but he believes it would be a disaster for his 300 North Korean employees.

對Ok Sung-seek來說，保險賠付和政府補償將會緩解開城工業園永久關閉給他造成的沖擊。但他認為，永久性關閉對他的300名朝鮮雇員來說將是一場災難。

“I believe a significant amount of money has been going to the workers,” he says, while conceding that he has never been told how much they receive.

他說：“我相信很大一部分錢到了這些工人手中。”但他也承認，他從未被告知他們拿到了多少錢。

In the years after he set up his factory in 2007, Mr Ok says, his workers — initially skinny and malnourished — became healthier. But when he returned after the five-month shutdown in 2024, that progress had sharply reversed.

Ok Sung-seek說，2007年設廠后的幾年里，他手下的工人從最初的皮包骨頭、營養不良變得健康起來。但在2024年，當他在園區關閉5個月后回到這里時，發現這一態勢已急劇逆轉。

“Everyone seemed to have lost weight,” he says. “They were going back to how they looked at the beginning.”

“每個人看上去都變瘦了，”他說，“他們又變回了剛來時的樣子。”