As of the end of January, a total of 105,669 people have visited the industrial complex in Kaesong since Jan. 1, 2005, mainly because of investment or tour purposes, according to data from the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, which oversees the joint project between South and North Korea.

"The simplification of immigration procedures shortened the period of entry processing to three days from a week, and the limit of visits per day was raised to 21 from a mere six," the ministry said in a statement.

The Kaesong industrial complex is one of two major cross-border projects South Korea has kept afloat in spite of United Nations sanctions on the North following its nuclear weapon test in October. The two Koreas also run a joint tourism project at the North’s scenic Mount Geumgang.

In the joint industrial complex, South Korean businesses use cheap North Korean labor to produce goods. Twenty-one South Korean factories employ about 11,160 North Korean workers in Kaesong.

The North Korean workers are supposed to earn about US$60 per month, but some critics say North Korean authorities deduct some of the payment for hard currency collection and other unspecified reasons.

But the South Korean government says it was confirmed that the North Korean workers are given necessities worth their wages. As there is a lack of daily commodities in North Korea, the North Korean authorities purchase them abroad with the wages paid and deliver them to the workers, according to South Korean officials.

(Yonhap, February 16, 2007)