“ShinWon’s Postponement of Ceremony for Completion of a Factory in Gaesong”

Clothing company ShinWon’s sudden postponement of a ceremony celebrating the completion of a factory in Gaesong is arousing speculation over the reason of its delay.

ShinWon originally planned to have a ceremony in the Gaesong complex on February 24. However, it said on February 16 that it would defer the ceremony until April as North Korea failed to send invitation cards on time.

On the news, the economic sector worried that after North Korea declared its possession of nuclear weapons and its absence from the six-party talks, which have made the two Korean’s relations uncomfortable, this postponement could cause tension in the two Korea’s economic cooperation efforts.

However, ShinWon elucidated that the ceremony postponement has nothing to do with North Korea’s nuclear program.

An official of ShinWon explained, “The ceremony was deferred because as many as 200 people visit North Korea for various events,” adding, “We just put off the schedule in order to prepare more substantially for the ceremony, and the North also didn’t call for a ceremony postponement even after its declaration as a nuclear power.”

Kang-Woon Lee kwoon90@donga.com