Electricity top need of Gaeseong complex

“We have great expectations for the Gaeseong industrial complex. The North and South will join here together,” a North Korean official I met Sunday in Gaeseong said in the local dialect. He said Gaeseong residents are enthusiastic over the development project in their city.
The proposed site for the industrial complex presents a dreary sight, though. The area is surrounded by mountains and a river run through it. But for now, it is just a vast expanse of plain.
At 8 a.m. the bus carrying historians and reporters from South Korea left Pyeongyang for the two and a half hours’ ride to Gaeseong. It is first time the site has been open to the South Korean press.
By Mount Jinbong lies a 4-million-pyeong (3,267-acre) plain that will hold the first-stage business facilities. The total area of the complex will be 8 million pyeong at completion.
Jeong Yeong-chul, 44, a Gaeseong city official, greeted us. “The Gaeseong special industrial zone will be developed into a center of industry, commerce, finance and tourism,” he said. “We can have the ground-breaking ceremony once we agree with the South on where to exchange construction materials.”
In the distance was a construction site. A couple of trucks, marked “Hyundai,” were delivering construction materials. Mr. Jeong said the work was restoring a railroad to link the two Koreas.
To the south of the river a new city, where Gaeseong complex workers will reside, will be built. Gaeseong residents appeared not to have heard about the new city. When I mentioned it to a man I met, he was surprised.
The area already showed some capitalist features. When I tried to enter a royal tomb nearby I had to pay $20. When some other people approached the tomb a couple of kiosks suddenly popped up to sell travel guides and snacks.
For the complex to succeed, it appeared that taking care of the electric power supply problem is a priority. The city was experiencing its worst power shortage ever. I saw some residents draw water from a well, as tap water pumped by electricity did not work. “It is difficult for us to send electricity to all residents,” another official said.
The North wants the South to build a power plant or supply electricity. I thought, at the current stage, the power problem is the most important problem that should be solved to change this area into a place of peace.

by Jung Chang-hyun