Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
The Kaesong Industrial Complex has reached 3 billion USD (3.5 trillion won) in cumulative output since it started operation 11 years ago. According to the Ministry of Unification, between 2005 (when operation went into full swing) and July 2015, the complex’s total output reached 2,996,160 USD.
This year the Kaesong complex recorded a total of 320 million USD in output through July, an average of 46 million USD each month. This guarantees that cumulative production surpassed 3 billion USD sometime in August.
The annual output of the Kaesong Industrial Complex started at 14.9 million USD in 2005 and reached 180 million USD in 2007, exceeding 100 million USD for the first time.
Except for 2013 (when operations were suspended for about five months), output has grown rapidly each year since 2007, shooting up to 470 million USD last year.
While it took the complex five years to reach 1 billion USD in cumulative output, it took only three additional years to surpass 2 billion USD by 2013, and just two more years to exceed 3 billion USD.
If the complex can maintain a similar rate of output in the second half of this year as in the first half (it produced 278 million dollars-worth in the first half), this year it will surpass an annual output of 500 million USD for the first time.
Even between March and May of this year, when tensions were heightened due to North Korea’s demands for a unilateral minimum wage increase, production was up 10-20 percent over the previous year. Thus, the Kaesong Industrial Complex has maintained a stable growth rate.
The number of resident companies at the complex has also increased significantly. While in 2005 only 18 companies did business at the complex, currently there are 124. Furthermore, the number of North Korean workers at the complex has risen nine-fold, from 6,000 at the beginning of its operation to approximately 54,000 at present.
Looking at the Kaesong complex companies by industry, textile companies account for over half of companies at 58 percent; machinery metal companies account for 19 percent; electronics companies, 11 percent; and chemicals companies, 7 percent.
The cumulative number of people who have visited the Kaesong Industrial Complex reached 1,100,000 this August, while 723,000 vehicles have visited the complex.
