The number of North Koreans working at an industrial complex for South Korean firms in North Korea has surpassed 8,000 and is expected to break the 10,000 mark within this year, government officials said Saturday.
A total of 8,266 North Korean workers are now employed by South Korean private and public firms operating at the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong, the officials said. They quoted data from the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, a North Korean corporation that oversees the complex.
The figures will likely surpass 10,000 within this year, with recruits so far this year having reached 2,200, according to the data.
Most of the North Koreans, or 7,700 of them, were employed by private firms, while the rest were hired by the two companies that support their operation -- the state-run Korea Land Corp. and Hyundai Asan Co., an affiliate of Hyundai Group in charge of North Korean business projects.
A total of 13 South Korean firms operate factories with the cheap but skilled North Korean labor in the pilot zone of the Kaesong complex, which was made available in June 2004. Ten other firms are constructing factories in another pilot zone that opened last September.
The Kaesong complex is a key product of the 2000 summit between the leaders of the Koreas, which boosted reconciliation and cooperation programs involving the two countries.
Seoul, Aug. 19 (Yonhap News)
Number of N.K. workers at inter-Korean complex tops 8,000 |
