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North Korea’s Kaesong industrial complex back to previous level of operations

SEOUL, March 09 /ITAR-TASS/. Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea, which is an inter-Korean industrial park, has recovered the previous volumes of operations, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said Sunday.

It said that the output of products at the manufacturing facilities located in Kaesong reached $ 352.9 million upon the results of December 2013, which is slightly less than the $ 364.2 million reported in December 2012.

In March 2013, when all the operations in the Kaesong industrial park were suspended, its workforce totaled 53,000 North Korean workers. Their number has again come close to 52,000 by now.

The Ministry of Unification noted certain progress in the implementation of agreements between the two Koreas in the fields that are supposed to facilitate a further expansion of the Kaesong complex.

It said the case in hand is the access to the Internet, a reduction of customs formalities by North Korea, and facilitation of access to the area for the South Korean personnel working there.

The Kaesong complex was closed at the beginning of April 2013 after Pyongyang had removed all the North Korean personnel that had been working at 123 South Korean manufacturing facilities there.

Operations there resumed in September 2013 after the North Korean authorities had promised to refrain from unilateral steps in the future.

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