North Korea has withdrawn its insistence on massive wage increases from South Korea at a jointly-run factory zone in the North. The move is widely seen as part of a broader charm offensive by Pyongyang, but comes as South Korea remains angry at a flood the North caused.
北韩已经不再坚持要求韩国大幅调涨开城工业区的北韩工人工资。这个举措被认为是平壤一个表示友好的行为，但是韩国方面对北韩开闸放水导致人员伤亡的事件仍然余怒未消。
South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo says North Korea has stepped back from a strident demand it made earlier this year.
韩国统一部发言人李钟柱表示，北韩在今年稍早的强硬立场已经有所改变。
She says North Korea has proposed the South raise wages at a jointly run industrial facility by five percent, to just under $58 a month. She adds that is in line with previous years.
她说，北韩提议韩国方面将开城联合工业区的工资调涨5个百分点，使每月的薪资达到58美元。李钟柱说，这与过去几年的调薪幅度相似。
South Korean companies employ nearly 40,000 North Koreans to produce basic manufactured goods at a special cooperative zone in the North Korean city of Kaesong. The project was a conceived as a practical laboratory for cooperation between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
韩国公司在北韩境内南北韩合作开发的开城工业区雇用了近4万名北韩工人，生产一些基本的制造业成品。这个工业区被认为是处于敌对状态的南北韩，进行合作的一个实验项目。
However, the zone encountered problems when North Korea became upset with the conservative policies of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Pyongyang announced in May it was cancelling all wage and rent agreements for the zone, and demanded that the South Korean companies sharply raise their payments.
Many North Korea experts see Friday's far more modest wage proposal in the context of a recent thaw Pyongyang's attitude toward the South - possibly aimed at boosting economic assistance as the North feels the pinch of international sanctions.
许多北韩专家认为，北韩星期五提出的温和许多的调薪建议，与最近平壤对首尔的和缓态度，可能是因为北韩已经感受到国际制裁的压力，希望能促进韩国对北韩的经济援助。
However, it also comes just days after North Korea enraged many South Koreans by releasing water from a hydroelectric dam. The resulting flood in the South left six people dead.
然而，北韩几天前在没有事先通知的情况下将一个水坝开闸放水激怒了许多韩国民众，暴涨的洪水导致韩国境内6人死亡。
South Korea's Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the North's action. Moon Tae-young, a ministry spokesman, says North Korea's actions on this occasion can be seen as having violated customary international law.
韩国外交通商部星期五谴责北韩开闸的行动，发言人文泰瀛说，北韩的行动已经触犯了国际边境法。
South Korean officials have demanded a formal apology from the North and say they have not yet decided whether and how to pursue the matter further.
韩国官员要求北韩就此事做出正式道歉，并表示，首尔还没有决定是否继续以及如何追查这起事件。
Choi Jong-kun, an international relations professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, thinks the declaration that Pyongyang violated international law is mainly for the consumption of angry South Koreans.
"Basically, who are we trying to soothe, you know? We might release statements and whatnot, but are we going to sue them? I don't think so," he said.
Lim Eul-chul is a North Korea scholar at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies. He sees a connection between the flooding incident and North's conciliatory proposal on Kaesong zone wages.
He says the North probably feels uncomfortable about worsening public opinion over the flooding, and does not want it to get in the way of improving relations with South Korea and the United States. |