[imText1]The number of North Korean employees in the Kaesung Industrial Complex passed ten thousand today amid nuclear crisis that hit the North-South Korean relationship. It has been two years and nine months since Hyundai Asan, the management company of the complex, accepted first 42 North Korean construction workers in February 2004.
The exact figure is ten thousand and ninety three as of today, after 345 new laborers had been recently hired by South Korean companies in the North Korean industrial region.
An official of Kaesung Industrial Complex Association said “Since the two of first 15 companies are expanding their factories in Kaesong, and other companies in the main district of the complex started to operate business, demand for (North Korean) labor forces is increasing.”
Three South Korean companies in the North Korean border city, Cotton Club, KMF and Pyongwha Shoemaking, have already started producing goods since November 10.
Lee Kwan Se, senior official in the South Korean Ministry of Unification, said last Monday that the construction process of the industrial park in Kaesong, and Mt. Geumgang tourism project would depend on the development in the six-party talks.
