Kaesong’s production and workforce rises to record

The monthly production of a joint inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Kaesong reached an all-time high of $36 million in September, government data showed yesterday.

The figure was up 38 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Unification said.

The number of North Korean workers has also jumped to 48,242 in September, up from 44,524 in 2010, according to the ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.

The development indicated that the joint complex, a key source of inter-Korean trade, has not been affected by South Korea’s sanctions imposed on the North for its two deadly attacks on the South last year.

The industrial complex, an achievement of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in 2000, combines South Korea’s capital and technology with the North’s cheap labor.

Yonhap