By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- Trade volume between South and North Korea reached US$825 million in the first six months of the year, up 19.5 percent compared to the same period last year, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday.

   The cross-border trade volume jumped more than 135 percent compared to the January-June period in 2009, the ministry said.

   The figure suggests that a joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, a key source of inter-Korean trade, has not been affected by South Korea's sanctions imposed on the North for its two deadly attacks on the South last year.

   The industrial complex, an achievement of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in 2000, combines South Korea's capital and technology with the North's cheap labor.

   More than 47,000 North Koreans work at about 120 South Korean firms operating in the industrial zone to produce clothes, utensils, watches and other goods.

   South and North Korea have recently raised the minimum monthly wage for the North Korean workers by 5 percent this year to US$63.814, according to the ministry.

   entropy@yna.co.kr
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