Word: kaesong
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...that's nothing compared with the overtures Seoul has been playing for its Northern cousins. The centerpiece of commercial ties between the two countries remains the Kaesong industrial zone. Opened in 2003, the district is now home to 65 South Korean-run factories employing 20,000 North Koreans. Lee Im Dong, general manager of the Kaesong Industrial Council, says hundreds of other companies plan to set up plants there when a second phase opens in early 2010. A rush is anticipated in part because, at the October summit between Roh and Kim, the North agreed to key improvements...
...investment interest among South Korean companies is not restricted to Kaesong. With the persistent high global demand for basic commodities as a backdrop, a group of South Korean officials from mining and mining-equipment companies have recently been allowed several visits to Danchon, an area in the country's northeast that is known in the mining industry for its rich mineral deposits. Danchon reflects the somber reality - but also the potential - of doing business in North Korea. The transportation infrastructure in the region is dilapidated, the power supply unreliable. But some companies are willing to take the risk. Four years...
...toward improving transportation links between the North and South, adding to the $700 million the South has already spent on North Korea infrastructure projects over the past eight years. The projects are starting to bear fruit. On Dec. 11 a regular rail-freight service was inaugurated between Seoul and Kaesong, punching a symbolic hole in the heavily fortified DMZ that divides the countries. Work is also underway to repair a rail line linking Kaesong with the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the Chinese border - promising to give South Korean companies an overland transport route to the booming mainland...
...Hoping to capitalize on the momentum at Kaesong, the Roh government is also pushing an ambitious plan to create a second special economic zone (SEZ) in and around the West Sea port city of Haeju. One idea floated was to build a man-made island to house factories in the West Sea. But Lee Myung Bak's transition team has all but ruled out any quick movement on a West Sea project, mainly because the geopolitics of the region are still deeply contentious. The maritime border between the two countries is contested - the North and South Korean navies have skirmished...
...like Kim Cheul Young of sockmaker Sunghwa, the protracted headaches of negotiating with the North certainly seem worth it. He pays his 330 North Korean workers about $57 per month, almost 20% less than what he pays workers in China, and that, along with other advantages on offer at Kaesong, has persuaded Kim to increase his Kaesong production significantly in the coming months and hire an additional 370 North Korean workers before the end of the year. Still, he acknowledges that the success of his business may ultimately depend upon the decisions of Kim Jong Il's erratic government...