By Kim Young-jin
Jobs at the jointly-run Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea are apparently a hot commodity even among the country’s highly educated _ hinting at the possible societal impact of the reconciliatory project.
An official of the Ministry of Unification, which oversees cross-border affairs, said earlier this week that doctors, medical specialists and other North Koreans with degrees were working at the factories that marry South Korean capital with the North’s cheap labor.
The information emerged as total employment there topped 50,300 for the first time after the Southern firms recently hired hundreds of new workers.
Each of the factories are said to employ two to three workers with medical licenses, on average. The ministry said that 9.5 percent of all North Korean workers had graduated from university.
The official said the complex boasts a low turnover rate, a sign of its popularity and the stability it provides in the country still suffering from a moribund economy.
Last year, production there reached a record $400 million. The workers, mostly female, make an average of $110 a month.
The apparent popularity and record employment numbers point to the ongoing mutual benefit the GIC provides despite soaring tensions in recent years.
The official estimated that an additional 20,000 North Korean workers were needed for the South’s 123 firms there.
The GIC emerged out of the landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000 between the late President Kim Dae-jung and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
But the North’s deadly 2010 sinking of the warship Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island threw some doubt over the lucrative project. Kim Kwan-jin, then the South’s nominee for defense minister said it should be shut down as it could hamper the military’s ability to respond in the event of a North Korean attack.
While the provocations prompted Seoul to cut off nearly all trade and aid to the North, the operations at Gaeseong were never completely halted.
Analysts say the complex continues to thrive because both sides are motivated to keep it alive, with Pyongyang desperate for the cash it provides while for Seoul it is a channel to maintain communication and to monitor the North.