Korean joint venture to reopen

North and South Korea will re-open a joint industrial complex on Monday, after it was closed by the North following a period of political tension earlier this year. The two Koreas have technically been at war since 1950.

Production at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, located a few miles inside North Korea, will resume on September 16, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

Kaesong was shut down in April, when the North withdrew 53,000 workers from the site following joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea.

The complex, opened in 2003, employs workers from North Korea in more than 120 factories, which produce products sold in the South. It is one of the few sources of foreign currency for the North, with South Korean companies paying more than £50 million a year in wages to the North Koreans. As compensation for the closure, factories will be tax-exempt for the rest of the year.