The Kaesong Syndrome

It is much like that other psychological syndrome we sometimes observe in hostages who paradoxically express feelings of sympathy and adulation for their captors. The particular phenomenon I call the Kaesong Syndrome occurs when businesses become economic hostages of a despotic regime, and later begin to mimic its despotic exploitation of their workers, and finally, to parrot its demands in both substance and manner.

The South Korean companies operating at the Kaesong Industrial Complex yesterday demanded that the South Korean government ensure the safety of their workers in the North and come up with measures to minimize their losses in case the complex shuts down.

In a meeting with Unification Ministry officials yesterday, some business owners at the inter-Korean complex asked the government to increase the 7 billion won ($ 5.87 million) cap on insurance payouts they could expect to receive if the industrial park shuts down.

Other business owners pleaded with the ministry to refrain from resuming psychological operations against Pyongyang.

The requests follow North Korea’s threats on Thursday that it would shut down traffic at Kaesong if South Korea does not abandon its plan to resume psychological operations as part of punitive measures for the March 26 torpedo attack that sank the Navy warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors. [Joongang Ilbo]

The idea of Sunshine was that interaction between North and South Korea would reform and liberalize the North. But really, who changed who here?

I cannot conceive of a less worthy group for a bailout. Just let the exploitive bastards go bankrupt.