DPRK willing to continue developing Kaesong industrial park: S Korean official

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) expressed willingness to continue developing the Kaesong Industrial Complex during a joint survey with its South Korean counterparts to Chinese and Vietnamese industrial parks last week, a government official said on Wednesday.

"As the joint inspection team surveyed advanced facilities and products in Chinese and Vietnamese industrial complexes, the DPRK representatives expressed a wish to develop the Kaesong industrial park," Kim Young-tak, a Unification Ministry official who led the South Korean team, said in a press briefing.

He also said DPRK officials were "always cooperative and actively involved" during the trip.

According to Kim, DPRK officials were particularly interested in wage and insurance systems, emphasizing the need to solve payment delay problems often made by South Korean firms in Kaesong.

On its part, the South Korean team paid more attention to infrastructure, safety issues, and tax benefits, Kim said.

The two sides recognized the need for stably managing the Kaesong industrial park with an aim to raise its competitiveness, and resolving pendent issues through negotiation, Kim added.

The two Koreas conducted a joint survey to industrial complexes in China and Vietnam from Dec. 12 to 22 in an effort to learn from successful ventures there and find benchmark models to enhance the operation of their joint industrial park in Kaesong.

The joint move marks the third inspection following the first in 2005 and the second in 2007.

The Kaesong Complex, where 116 South Korean companies employ more than 42,000 DPRK workers, was jointly set up in 2004 as a reconciliation project of the two sides.

In a recent ministry report, the complex's October production was nearly 27 million U.S. dollars, a 12 percent increase from its September output of 24 million dollars.