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Inter-Korean trade rises sharply in first half despite political chill
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- Inter-Korean trade has risen sharply in the first half year-on-year despite a chilled political climate on the Korean Peninsula, the Unification Ministry said Monday.
The volume of trade increased 23 percent to US$880 million from $718.2 million in the first half mainly due to a remarkable increase in the commercial sector, the ministry said in a news release.
Relations have been frozen since South Korea's conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in late February, vowing to link cross-border ties to North Korea's nuclear disarmament efforts. Pyongyang cut off government-level dialogue with Seoul in retaliation, but civilian exchanges have continued unhindered.
Commercial trade was up 47 percent to $823.6 million from $558.7 million during that period, thanks to brisk production in the joint industrial complex in Kaesong and processing of materials brought into the North from the South.
The Kaesong industrial complex, located just north of the heavily armed inter-Korean border, is one of the most tangible fruits of a historic summit in 2000 between the leaders of the two Koreas.
A total of 28,277 North Koreans were working for 70 South Korean labor-intensive manufacturers in Kaesong as of the end of May, according to the ministry's figures.
Inter-Korean trade is increasingly going commercial, with commercial trade's share having risen to 94 percent from 78 percent of the total trade year-on-year.
An increasing number of South Korean firms and items were getting involved in inter-Korean trade. The total number of firms was up to 526 from 324, and items to 736 from 686. Goods traded in larger volume than a year ago were plate glass, clams, brackens and textiles from the Kaesong complex, the ministry said.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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