DSME keeps inter-Korean project afloat

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) contacted with North Korean officials last week in a bid to keep a joint shipyard construction project afloat amid stalled government-level efforts.

According to the Unification Ministry, DSME had working-level consultations with North Korean officials to conduct a geological survey in Anbyeon, one of the target dockyard sites. In the meeting held in the border city of Gaeseong, DSME failed to set a date for the survey, but agreed with North Koreans to continue the discussion soon, the ministry said. The ministry said it was not involved in DSME’s contact with North Koreans, but maintained its hope of reviving the project. It stressed the shipbuilding project was originally planned as civilian-led one and was part of a package of new inter-Korean joint businesses and projects agreed last October between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The two governments agreed to conduct a joint geological survey in Anbyeon and Nampo in North Korea in the first quarter of this year as part of preparatory measures to build shipbuilding yards there. But the fate of the project faces uncertainty after the new South Korean government announced in January that new inter-Korean economic cooperation projects cannot become a reality unless North Korea accords with agreed-upon denuclearization process.