SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean companies at a joint inter-Korean industrial complex in the North Korean city of Kaesong had shown steady sales growth before production there ground to a halt early this month, data showed Monday.

   The average sales by 118 out of a total of 123 South Korean firms operating in the complex came to 1.48 billion won (US$1.3 million) in 2011, compared with 1.13 billion won in 2010 and 900 million won in 2009, according to the data by state-run Small and Medium Business Corp.

   For 2011, the firms posted 56 million won in operating profit on average with their net loss averaging 14 million won.

   The average debt ratio reached 346.7 percent in 2011, improving from 464 percent a year earlier, but still far worse than the average 171 percent recorded by local manufacturers in 2011, according to the data.

   Cheap labor was cited as the No. 1 reason why the firms decided to operate factories in the Kaesong park, followed by easy accessibility to the town, just north of the heavily-fortified border with the North, the data showed.

   But a lack of control over North Korean workers, difficulties with Internet and telephone connections, and a shortage of North Korean labor were cited as drawbacks in operating in the park. A majority of the South Korean firms in the Kaesong park said the North regime's intervention in their business activities was severe.

   The joint park, seen as the last symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation, virtually shut down on Friday as the South decided to bring back the South Korean workers who remained there despite the North's decision to pull out all of its North Korean workers earlier in April amid escalating inter-Korean tensions.

   The last batch of 50 South Korean workers were scheduled to return to the South on Monday.

   pbr@yna.co.kr
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