To voice its opposition to the strong

sanctions levied against it specifically by South Korea, North Korea has threatened to liquidate

South Korean assets left behind following the Kaesong Industrial Complex [KIC] shutdown. Residents in the local area have decried these actions and shown embarrassment at the regime’s gall, Daily NK has learned.

Following the decision by South Korea to suspend operations at the joint industrial complex in retaliation for North Korea’s latest nuclear test and rocket launch, Pyongyang declared it would freeze all South Korean assets on the premises. According to a source in South Pyongan Province, with whom Daily NK spoke by telephone on March 15, former KIC employees and their families were heartbroken when they heard the news. So palpable was their distress, in fact, higher-ups

in the Party, fearing unrest and wavering ideological implications, assured

these employees that the complex would resume normal operations before long.

“But the

official announcement of the regime’s intentions to liquidate the South’s property has left people feeling deceived,” she explained. “When they heard of this decision [via state media] they condemned it, calling it ‘a unilateral decision tantamount to highway robbery.'”

Still, most remain unsurprised if upset by the

actions of the authorities. “Kim Jong Un had

long said that North Korea should be ready to run the industrial park on its

own,” the source asserted, “but to stem possible backlash–that is, preventing theft and destruction of valuable property– the authorities spread rumors that its reopening was imminent.”

She added, “So, of course, now people are saying that the authorities had long

anticipated this scenario, and as such planned to unilaterally break the

contract and seize the assets in the complex from its inception.” After all, she pointed out, “it certainly wouldn’t be the first time North Korea

failed to uphold its end of a deal between the Koreas.”

According to a separate source in South

Pyongan Province, exasperation with what many residents have described as yet another “embarrassment” is running particularly high among university

students, prompting discussions about North Korea’s past seizure and

diversion of South Korean assets from joint endeavors, namely the foiled light water reactor construction project in Sinpo and the cessation of [South Korean] tours to the Mount Kumgang region. “They compare the leadership’s actions to ‘the

thief turning on the master with a club,'” he said.

“In truth, a lot of those students see that

South Korea continued to invest in projects in North Korea, despite all those past messes, and it plays a part in shaping beliefs that their southern neighbor is ‘good.'”