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N. Korea to suffer dearly from halt in inter-Korean trade: civic group
SEOUL, May 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's moribund economy is projected to lose about US$370 million a year and about 80,000 jobs if inter-Korean trade is entirely suspended, a Seoul-based civic group said Sunday.
The estimate by the South-North Forum, which specializes in inter-Korean economic cooperation, comes as South Korea considers taking stronger economic measures against the North over the March 26 sinking of a South Korean naval ship.
Officials in Seoul have declined to openly blame Pyongyang for the sinking that killed 46 sailors, but suspicions are growing that a North Korean torpedo attack was the cause of the explosion that ripped the vessel in half.
With tensions deteriorating over the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan, the future of inter-Korean business projects -- including an industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong where more than 100 South Korean firms employ about 42,000 North Koreans -- appears to be in jeopardy.
"If inter-Korean trade is fully halted, North Korea will lose $230 million a year in trade of agricultural goods," the civic group said in a statement.
There would be also a loss of $49 million for the North if the Kaesong complex is shut down, the group said. Other losses came from already-suspended tourism between the two Koreas.
As early as Thursday, South Korea is expected to release the results of its investigation into what caused the ship to sink.
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