North Korean Economy Watch

According to the Daily NK:

It has been belatedly revealed that since the start of the 2000s, young women working in North Korean restaurants both in Pyongyang and abroad have been required to have double eyelid surgery.

A source with a long history of visits to Pyongyang explained to The Daily NK yesterday, “When I was in Pyongyang last year, I heard from someone related to the North that since the start of the 2000s all waitresses had double eyelid surgery on Kim Jong Il’s instructions,” and added, “It seems that Kim Jong Il places great importance on the appearance of workers in restaurants earning foreign currency.”

According to the source, the target of Kim Jong Il’s requirements includes workers at restaurants within Pyongyang fraternized by foreigners, including Korean and international restaurants in the Yanggakdo and Koryo Hotels, coffee shops and other shops.

But it also includes those sent to work in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Yanji), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), the Middle East (Dubai), Nepal, the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Kaesong.

The reason why Kim Jong Il made the decision is supposedly connected with restaurant sales; the waitresses at such establishments are not merely waitresses, for they must also be talented singers and dancers, too.

According to the source, “They are mostly young university students born in Pyongyang, and I heard they get the surgery in hospital in Pyongyang for $17.”

North Korea pushed into the foreign restaurant market at first in the 1990s in an attempt to boost hard currency earnings. Now, with foreign currency earning businesses under both Party and military organs operating in the market, there are more than 100 North Korean restaurants worldwide.

According to the scale of the restaurant and number of waitresses, each is expected to earn a certain amount of foreign currency per year, and while getting a job in one of the restaurants naturally relies heavily on family and educational background, the waitresses are still watched more carefully by the authorities than ordinary North Korean citizens.

A former resident of Pyongyang told me that elite North Korean women were all getting this procedure done back in the 1980s.  It was very cheap and common.

Read the full story here:
Eyelid Surgery a Restaurant Must
Daily NK:
Kim Yong Hun
2011-5-20

According ot the Choson Ilbo:

The number of North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex has been growing even as Seoul halted all other trade with the North after deadly attacks on the Navy corvette Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island last year.

There were 46,420 North Korean workers at the industrial park at the end of February, up 11 percent from 42,415 a year ago, according to the Unification Ministry on Sunday. This represents a monthly increase of 334. The industrial park’s output rose from $256.47 million in 2009 to US$323.32 million last year.

Why the increase?

Since all other inter-Korean trade has been suspended, the Kaesong Industrial Complex is the sole window for the North to obtain a steady legal supply of hard cash. The monthly wage of workers at the complex averages at around $100, but they only see between 30 and 50 percent while the rest goes to the regime.

“The workers get their wages in North Korean won or daily necessity coupons, and the North Korean authorities take all the dollars,” said a North Korean source. That amounts to some $4.6 million every month.

If the number of workers keeps increasing at the same rate, the North is expected to earn nearly $60 million this year. With the sources of hard currency exhausted, the North finds it profitable to assign even one more workers to the complex, but that also benefits the South Korean firms there. “North Korean worker wages are far more competitive than those in China and Southeast Asia,” said a staffer with an apparel firm at the complex. “At present we employ 1,200 North Korean workers, and the more we employ, the more profit we can make.”

And Lee Im-dong, a former secretary-general of the businesses association at the complex, said, “We have asked the North Korean authorities for additional manpower of 20,000. As far as the Kaesong Industrial Complex is concerned, our interests completely coincide with those of North Korea.”

The supply of additional workers is not easy. The available labor force in Kaesong and vicinity was already exhausted several years ago, so there is even a joke that “all the healthy in Kaesong now work at the industrial park.” The authorities have turned old buildings in Kaesong into boarding houses for workers recruited from Pyongyang, Pyongan and Hamgyong provinces, said the source.

“The fact that the North is going extra mile to bring more workers to Kaesong shows how desperately it needs dollars,” opined the Unification Ministry official.

Read the full article here:
N.Korea Keeps Sending More Workers to Kaesong Complex
Choson Ilbo
2011-5-17

According to Yonhap:

A daily average of more than 600 South Korean workers are currently staying at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, up from the 500-level in the past several months, according to a Seoul ministry Sunday.

The increase reflects a reduction in military tensions between the two Koreas, officials at the Unification Ministry that handles inter-Korean affairs said.

The ministry’s data showed that around 650 South Koreans stay at the industrial park, located just north of the inter-Korean border, per day starting last month.

“With regard to the number of production-related manpower, we are granting permission to stay (there) with more flexibility starting in the middle of April,” a ministry official said, requesting anonymity. “The number is expected to gradually increase down the road as well.”

He said the ministry’s flexible stance is attributable to petitions from companies in the Kaesong complex and the alleviation of security concerns of South Korean workers as inter-Korean tensions have eased a bit.

Read the full story here:
Number of S. Koreans at Kaesong rebounds amid letup in tension
Yonhap
2011-5-8

According to Yonhap:

The number of North Koreans officially visiting China reached 28,600 in the first three months of the year, up 35 percent from the same period last year, a news report said Wednesday.

More than half of them visited China to work in either factories or restaurants, while 6,000 people visited China for conferences or businesses, the Voice of America reported, citing Chinese government data.

The VOA also said 700 North Koreans toured China for sightseeing, while fewer than 100 North Koreans visited China to meet relatives or friends and 7,300 visitors had other purposes. The report did not elaborate.

The data did not include information on North Koreans staying illegally in China after defecting, the VOA said.

Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, a major land route through which many North Korean defectors travel to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries before resettling in South Korea.

According ot the Choson Ilbo:

Chinese tourists will start visiting Russian and North Korean cities without visas on Wednesday under a formal agreement between Beijing and the two countries. The tour course starts in the Chinese border city of Hunchun in the lower reaches of the Duman (Tumen) River and goes on to eastern Russia and the Rajin-Sonbong special economic zone in North Korea.

A group of 21 tourists left Changchun, the capital of northeast China’s Jilin Province, on Tuesday for the Hunchun. Travelers will then visit Slavyanka, Vladivostok and Khasan, the official Xinhua news agency said. They then go to North Korea by train and tour the cities of the Duman River and the Rajin-Sonbong area.

The four-day tour starts every Wednesday and costs 2,300 yuan (approximately W390,000). Only Chinese travelers are eligible for the visa-free arrangement.

Read the full stories below:
Number of N. Korean visitors to China rises in first quarter
Yonhap
4/27/2011

Chinese Tourists Visit Russia, N.Korea Visa-Free
Choson Ilbo
4/28/2011

According to the Daily NK:

Which military unit is the most popular for North Korean soldiers about to serve their ten-year term in the army?

In the end, the answer is undoubtedly the Escort Bureau.

Although all North Korean middle school students submit an application, in which they write which unit they want to serve in to their city or county’s Military Mobilization Department before they graduate, the Escort Bureau is literally the only corps they “want.” Placement in the bureau, however, depends entirely on the applicant’s family background.

Only those students who have passed the military physical exam and have a good family background are allowed to participate in the two-month educational training sessions that are offered when students graduate from middle school around the age of seventeen. These sessions are offered to recruits at the training center of each unit or division and differ according to the branch of the military that the recruit will be serving in. However, the branches have in common the fact that if a recruit comes from a family of good political or economic standing or has a strong family background, he will be able to serve in a favorable unit.

Once soldiers serve in the Escort Bureau, they can live in Pyongyang and, if lucky, be allowed to remain in the capital after their discharge from the military. Additionally, they may receive a recommendation for college due to Kim Jong Il’s especial consideration for discharged soldiers from the Escort Bureau.

In addition, since it is a well-known fact that discharged soldiers from the Escort Bureau have good family backgrounds in politics and the economy, they become sought after by women as desirable bridegrooms.

The military attire of the Escort Bureau, including its hat, uniform, shoes, and belt, for even regular privates are furthermore special on a level similar to that of generals’ attire.

When they are discharged from the army, these soldiers must pledge not to expose what they have seen, listened to, and felt to the rest of society.

Lee Young Kuk recalls the time when he was being discharged from the army in his book I Was Kim Jong Il’s Bodyguard (Zeitgeist 2004), “When bodyguards are discharged from the army, they have to attend a debriefing lecture and sign a written pledge with their thumb, avowing that they will never disclose the secrets they know about Kim Jong Il .”

The border guard units dispatched to Shinuiju, North Hamkyung Province, Yangkang, North Hamkyung Provinces, and other border areas have also emerged recently as units popular with incoming recruits. The head officers of the border guard even come directly to the Military Mobilization Department of each area to select recruits for themselves.

Parents tend to do their best to have their children serve in border guard units through the use of human networking as well as bribes. The reason for this is that soldiers in border guard units are able to earn enough money to afford a wedding after their discharge from the military through the taking of bribes from traders and smugglers.

Choi Cheol Ho, who served in a border unit stationed in Manpo, Jagang Province, and defected in 2007, stated that, “Parents try to send their children to border units even if it means they must give up all of their property because they believe that the cost will be worth it for their children after just three years in the border unit.”

He added that he also offered a substantial bribe in order to enter the unit.

The next most popular areas of the military are the air force and navy. In order to serve in both the air force and navy, applicants must have a good family background and be in good health. If any of their relatives have crossed over to South Korea, they are automatically disqualified from serving in the air force and navy.

On the other hand, if a suspected criminal has relatives serving in air force or navy, they may be able to escape punishment.

Kim Dong Il, who defected to the South from Hamheung, South Hamkyung Province, in 2009, testified to this situation, “A friend of mine, Cheol Nam, went through a preliminary trial on suspicion of selling ‘Bingdu’ (methamphetamines) and was sentenced to a few months in a labor-training camp, which is like a detention center, while his accomplice was sentenced to three years in a reeducation camp, which is tantamount to being sentenced to time in a regular prison in most countries. The reason for the leniency Cheol Nam was shown was that his brother was a pilot in the air force.”

Some applicants attempt to serve in the Civilian Affairs Administrative Police Unit, which is located in the Panmunjom area and along the border with South Korea, out of curiosity.

The Civilian Affairs Administrative Police Unit and light infantry are special branches, so life for these soldiers is tough. However, soldiers discharged from these units are often able to receive a recommendation to enter a university after their military service.

“While I was serving in the Civilian Affairs Administrative Police Unit, I was able to listen to South Korean broadcasts. Therefore, we had to sit through ideology lectures every day,” Park Cheol, a defector who came to South Korea in 2009, recalled about his military service.

He added, “After they discharge soldiers from these units, the authorities send them to local universities. If they want to enter a university in Pyongyang, their family background must be superior to that of others. Entering even a regular university is quite advantageous because most discharged soldiers are sent to mines or other rural areas.”

Those who are rich but have been deprived of the chance to send their children to popular and advantageous military units because cadres’ children have taken all of the spots in these units tend to choose a different route, which is to have their children enter an infantry unit in Pyongyang. To achieve this, they need to offer bribes to the Military Mobilization Department. Units in Pyongyang have better food provisions than those in the provinces, and parents also have the chance to see the capital when they visit their children.

Read the full story here:
What Military Unit Is Most Sought After by North Korean Soldiers?
Daily NK
4/26/2011
Lee Seok Young

According to ITAR-TASS:

According to the head of the Russian delegation, “North Korea has a possibility to send workforce to Russia.” Last year about 32,000 citizens of North Korea worked on the territory of Russia. He noted that North Korea “hopes to increase the number of its citizens working in Russia”.

Of course there has been plenty of media attention given to the North Koreans who work as loggers in Russia (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here), but they must be a small minority of 32,000 people.

What else are North Koreans doing in Russia? Art shows, trade and construction, paying off imports, etc.  There are 5,000 in Vladivostok alone. Leonid Petrov adds more details.

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 11-03-15
3/15/2011

Recently, Paek Ryong Chon was appointed as the new President of the Central Bank of the DPRK. Paek is known as the third son of late Paek Nam Sun, the former Foreign Minister of the DPRK.

According to the DPRK’s official news agency KCNA, a national meeting of commercial officials was held at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on March 7, 2011. The list of attendees at this event included Paek Ryong Chon as the President of the Central Bank.

The senior Paek served as the Foreign Minister of the DPRK from 1998 to 2007 before he passed away in January 2007. His third son, Paek Ryong Chon, 49, made his public political appearances at the North-South Premier Talks and the Joint Committee for Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation meetings in Seoul on December 2007 as a department director of the Secretariat of the Cabinet.

Previously, he visited South Korea as a part of the North Korean delegation in 2002 at the first working-level talks of inter-Korean economic cooperation and again in June 2006 for the Inter-Korean Joint Event held in Kwangju.

The Central Bank was established in 1946 and is responsible for issuing bank notes, currency control and regulating other banks. The Central Bank also operates as a savings and insurance institution that provides services for the general population of North Korea through regional branch offices.

Paek’s new appointment is believed to be largely in consideration for the late foreign minister, Paek Nam Sun.

Meanwhile, Ryang Ui Gyong was appointed as the Chairman of the State Price Commission, which was formerly known as the State Price Bureau.

The KCNA made a referral to Ryang Ui Gyong as the Chairman of the State Price Commission in a recent report on a national meeting of commercial officials.

Not much is known about Ryang. He is speculated to have built his career in the State Price Bureau as a technocrat.

The State Price Commission is responsible for the price control of agricultural and industrial prices and wage systems, calculating the living costs for the people. The recent upgrade from a bureau to a commission is analyzed by many experts as North Korea’s move toward stronger price control policy to stabilize prices.

The Commission is also in charge of regulating import and export prices twice a year. This is evaluated as an attempt to prevent imports from being imported at a higher price and exports from being exported at a lower price than the international market average.

In the past, the State Planning Commission and the State Science and Technology Commission were the two main commissions in North Korea. However, since June 2010, the number of commissions has risen to five, a result of the reorganization of the Ministry of Education to Education Commission, the Joint Venture and Investment Guidance Bureau to the Committee of Investment and Joint Ventures, and the State Price Bureau to the State Price Commission.

UPDATE: Lots of great information in the comments.

ORIGINAL POST: According to Naenara (Link won’t work from South Korea):

The Korea General Corporation for External Construction (GENCO) is a professional enterprise for overseas construction.

GENCO has gained a good reputation from many countries around the world as a credible constructor with a long history of 50 years since its inauguration in January 1961.

It has scores of affiliated building enterprises involving a number of designers, building operators and skilled workers as well as foreign languages and other experts.

GENCO has built lots of dwellings and public establishments in Kuwait, and recently completed the 64-storied Al-Fardan Tower, an ordered project, in a short span of time in Qatar.

GENCO is looking forward to contracts for construction projects such as dwelling houses, public buildings, metros, tunnels, bridges, airports, harbours and stadiums in different countries in diverse forms such as the whole construction work and dispatch of skilled workers.

I had assumed that all overseas constructions projects were under the auspices of the Mansudae Overseas Development Group (MODG), but it appears that there is a rival firm picking up construction contracts.  This would not be surprising since the DPRK often duplicates functions so that the leadership is not reliant on a singe source of information and revenue–plus a little competition between agencies offers the employees an incentive to increase profits which they can remit back to Pyongyang.  It could also be the case that th GENCO and MODG have split the market.  MODG sticks to monuments and GENCO sticks to more traditional construction projects.

Pictured below is a Google Earth image of the Al Fardan Towers in Doha, Qatar (25.320952°, 51.529404°):

I am not sure to what extent GENCO was involved in the project. They claim to have built one of the towers, but I find it hard to believe that they built the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel since it would be impossible to develop the necessary skills in the DPRK. Additionally, there are no comparable buildings in the DPRK.  In all liklihood, GENCO is a company that simply provides construction workers who are low cost and travel from job to job remitting their hard currency earnings back to the DPRK.

Here are some, though not all, previous posts about other construction projects by MODG or GENCO.  Although I have not published it, I have an extensive list of these projects on Google Earth.

If a reader is aware of GENCO’s construction projects in Kuwait, please let me know.

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 11-03-07
3/7/2011

The number of male workers in Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) increased according to the Ministry of Unification (MOU). Since the establishment of the complex, women made up 84-85 percent of the total work staff. But from last May, the number fell below 80 percent and currently is around 74 percent.

In contrast, the number of male workers steadily increased from 15 percent from last year to 26 percent, an increase of over 10 percent.

Out of the new hires of all of last year, 56 percent were male. Even sewing factories generally dominated by female employees began to accept male workers.

Many of the South Korean companies in Kaesong preferred young female workers over male for higher work efficiency; but with declining manpower, more male workers are being hired than previously.

An official from the MOU stated, “We are facing difficulties with labor supply lately,” and added, “Many are even coming from Pyongyang in addition to the nearby areas of Kaesong.”

The total production output of Kaesong Complex reached 323.32 million USD last year, an increase of 26 percent against the previous year.

Kaesong is a popular employment spot for the North Koreans due to its higher wages and extra perks including coupons exchangeable for daily necessities and free coffee and snacks.

The MOU official also noted that even in times of troubled inter-Korean relations, North Korean officials and workers on several occasions have expressed their hopes for the KIC to continue. “KIC is a space we acquired from the North for the purpose of fulfilling our national strategy. We need to be more proactive in utilizing this opportunity to its full potential.”

On the other hand, North Korea sent a letter proposing working-level talks on the industrial complex to the South earlier last month. In the letter the North expressed, “We hope for your active support to resume the working-level talks of the Kaesong Industrial Complex at the earliest possible date to revitalize the currently stagnant business. We look forward to your positive response.”

On January 8, the DPRK officially proposed for the resumption of KIC working-level talks at the earliest possible date through a statement made by the spokesperson of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea. Specifically, late January or early February was suggested.

On January 18, the Central Special Zone Development Guidance of North Korea also proposed through its representative for working-level talks related to the KIC to be held in Kaesong on February 9.

The request from the DPRK is analyzed to be an attempt to relax restrictions prohibiting new businesses and investments in the KIC from the “May 24 Sanctions” that the South Korean government put into effect in 2010 following the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan in March of last year.

Image from the Hankyoreh: The left graph shows the number of South Korean tenant companies operating at Kaesong Industrial Complex. 122 companies are operating normally, 77 companies are not currently operating, and 16 have halted operations. The right graph shows the total number of workers: above, the number of North Korean workers and below, the number of South Korean workers.

According to the Hankyoreh:

… [Companies in the Kaesong Zone]  complained that they have lost hundreds of millions of Won (hundreds of thousands of dollars) with the suspension of factory construction due to administration measures forbidding new investment. They also said that the situation is growing bleaker by the day, with veteran employees quitting as the numbers of resident personnel at the complex drops due to concerns about personal safety. Despite all of this, they suffer without a word of formal complaint out of fears that they might draw the anger of North Korean and South Korean authorities.

In its May 24 measures last year, the Lee administration declared a suspension to trade and exchanges with North Korea in response to the sinking of the Cheonan. At the complex, only existing facilities were allowed to operate, while the resident workforce was halved to 500 people and the introduction of additional equipment was prohibited. Sixteen companies that were in the process of building new factories suffered a direct hit from these measures. At present, a total of 122 small and medium companies run factories in the complex.

Company “A,” a garment company that invested 5 million Won ($4,493) in inter-Korean economic cooperation funding to build a sewing factory, but were forced to suspended construction with approximately 90 percent of the process complete.

“Only the exterior and interior remain,” said the president of the company. “We could not bring in factory equipment, so we just gave up.”

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (EXIM) only stood surety for 90 percent of the loan, so Company A faces the immediate burden of principal and interest repayments in the hundreds of millions of Won. It also has to pay 16 million Won per year in interest on the EXIM-guaranteed loan until compensation money comes from the government.

The company’s president said, “We borrowed the money because they said to do an inter-Korean economic cooperation project, and then they just cause a loss by suspending exchange. Is the administration playing interest games with South Koreans?”

To date, a total of 1.26 trillion Won ($1.1 billion) has been invested in the complex, the bulk of which is facility investment paid by tenant companies, amounting to 730 billion Won.

Company “B,” another garment company, originally had seven South Korean employees working with 330 North Korean workers. But following the order from Seoul to halve the number of resident employees, there are now just three South Korean employees left. Two employees left the company. “The employees who left were heads of household in their forties who had worked with us for over a decade,” the president sighed. “They had a difficult time getting up at 6 in the morning for the 70 to 80 kilometer commute, and the government actually ended up fanning anxieties with its talk about ‘protecting employee safety,’ so their family members dissuaded them from working at the complex.”

Hiring new employees is not an option. In some cases, interviews were held and start dates were set before the new recruits abandoned their plans after the Yeonpyeong Island shelling occurred two months ago. Company B, which has its head office in Seoul, is in a slightly better position. Employees at businesses in Daegu, Gwangju, and Busan, for whom commuting is impossible, are forced to stay at motels in Munsan, Gyeonggi Province.

“They emptied out a perfectly good dormitory in the Kaesong complex, and employees have been wasting time, money, and strength for months now,” said the president of Company “C.” “It stands to reason that the departure rate is increasing.”

The president of Company “D” stated emphatically that there is no physical risk at the complex. In fact, the president said, North Korean authorities have added more productive labor on site since the Cheonan sinking and the bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island. The 45,332 North Korean workers as of November 2010 represented an increase of a full 2,771 over the 42,561 working in 2009. The president of Company D stressed that the government must increase the number of resident personnel if the physical safety of South Korean employees is to be guarded.

“If it is impossible to guarantee physical safety, they should not be leaving a single person at the Kaesong complex,” the president said. “Does it make any sense to say that 500 people is okay, but 1,000 is not?”

Some buyers have also fallen away because of anxieties. In late 2010, garment company “E” lost a buyer that had previously been purchasing 70 percent of its production output. “They got worried when it became difficult to bring in raw materials due to the sanctions against North Korea, and finally they halted transactions, saying that they thought the government had washed its hands of the Kaesong complex,” the president of Company E said. “Even if we suspend operations because there is no work to do, we still have to pay the workers’ wages, so the deficit is increasing by the day.”

With the decreased South Korean presence, six commercial facilities within the complex have also closed down, including a supermarket, restaurant, and singing room at “Songak Plaza.”

“If you look at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex Support Act, which the National Assembly passed unanimously, the government is to provide support and guarantees so that we can conduct business freely, like companies do in any other region,” said the president of Company F. “We are on the brink of withering away because of this idea of restricting property rights and company activities for administrative expedience, and through a minister’s order rather than any law.”

While they have been driven to the brink, the company presidents are adamantly opposed to closure of the complex. The president of Company G explained, “At first, things were rocky because of cultural and ideological differences, but now the North Korean workers understand the companies. They have realized by themselves why we need to meet the delivery deadline, why we need to improve quality, why we need to make so much. The Kaesong complex is performing the role of reducing the costs of reunification by restoring homogeneity between North Korea and South Korea.”

The president of Company H said, “The possibility of war is also being checked by the presence of North Korean and South Korean workers in the complex.”

“For the sake of peace and shared prosperity, we need to develop [the complex] into a special economic zone of peace where North Korea and South Korea can communicate,” the president added.

According to the Choson Ilbo:

Six of nine commercial [leisure] facilities in the joint Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex have closed, it emerged on Tuesday.

According to the Unification Ministry, a supermarket, a beer hall, a karaoke and a billiard hall in the Songak Plaza, the industrial park hotel operated by Hyundai Asan, closed on Dec. 1, right after North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. Already in February a massage parlor closed, and in August a Japanese restaurant.

Only a duty-free shop and Korean and Chinese restaurants managed directly by Hyundai Asan stay open. A staffer at the industrial park said the reason is that the number of South Korean staffers in the industrial park, who were the main customers of the facilities, has dropped sharply.

There were some 1,200 to 1,500 South Koreans at the industrial park until the North’s sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in March and its shelling of Yeonpyeong in November, but the number dropped to about 500 recently.

According to Yonhap:

Production at an inter-Korean industrial park dropped 15 percent in November last year when the North bombarded a South Korean island, raising bilateral tensions to the highest level in years, the Unification Ministry said Sunday.

The fall, however, contrasted with an increase in the number of North Korean workers at the Kaesong industrial park, located just north of the heavily armed inter-Korean border, the ministry said on its Web site.

Over 45,000 North Koreans were working as of November for more than 120 South Korean firms at the complex, the ministry said, adding that they produced US$25.1 million worth of products that month, compared to $29.4 million in October.

The factory park is considered the last remaining symbol of reconciliation between the two Koreas that remain divided by a heavily armed border after the Korean War ended in a truce in 1953.

After North Korea shelled the western South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on Nov. 23, killing four people, Seoul restricted the number of South Korean workers allowed to stay overnight in Kaesong.

The measure, which remains in place, led business managers to complain of difficulties in production. South Korea maintains it will continue to support manufacturing activities at the Kaesong industrial park despite the North Korean provocation.

Since May when a multinational investigation led by Seoul found the North responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship earlier that year, South Korea has suspended all cross-border trade with North Korea.

Read the full stories here:
Kaesong companies on the brink as sanctions continue
Hankyoreh
Jung Eun-joo
1/19/2011

Leisure Facilities at Kaesong Close Down
Choson Ilbo
1/19/2011

Output at inter-Korean factory park falls amid tension
Yonhap
1/23/2011