Value of GIC
2 Current situation of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex
Hostile relations between North and South Korea for more than 50 years → transition to economic cooperation
- (Security) GIC moved North Korean military units (about 60,000 soldiers) backward to create a site for the GIC.
- (Location) Located inside the North Korean territory, but closer to Seoul (capital of South Korea) than to Pyongyang (capital of North Korea), and only 1.5 miles from the Military Demarcation Line on the Korean Peninsular
GIC : South Korean Capital·Technology Plus North Korean Land·Labor = A Model for North-South Economic Cooperation
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- Location : Gaeseong Special City, North Hwanghae Province
- Seoul Station → Gaeseong (60 km / 37miles, 1 hour by car)
- Pyongyang → Gaeseong (180 km / 111miles, 3 hours by car)
- Military Demarcation Line (MDL) → Gaeseong (2.5km / 1.5 miles)
- Total Area of Complex : 6,611 ha
- North Korean troops relocated to allow for construction of complex (6th Division, 64th Armored Division, total troop strength 60,000)
- Number of tenant businesses : 125 (as of February 2016)
- Number of North Korean workers: 54,000 (as of February 2016)
- Total population : 500,000 (350,000 employees + 150,000 dependents)
- The construction began in June 2003 and GIC was actively in operation for about 13 years until the suspension of the GIC in Feb. 2016, while the first supply of goods happened in 2004.
- 2003.06 The first stage of the GIC construction(3.3km2)
- 2004.12 The first supply of goods from a company
- 2007.10 Completion of the first stage of infrastructure
- 2013.04 Temporary suspension of the GIC
- 2013.09 Re-opening of the GIC
- 2016.02 Overall suspension of the GIC
- There is possibility of spreading the market economy system in North Korea under the normal operation of the GIC.
- About 54,000 North Korean workers at GIC before the suspension in 2016
- Operated in accordance with capitalism and the market economy, as N.K. workers hoped to work overtime for higher income and requested incentives based on output
- Specialists rated GIC as the only successful inter-Korean economic cooperation project.
- It was planned to construct the GIC in three stages with a total area of 65.7km2, but was suspended after the completion of the first phase.
- CAGIC understands that the former government(government at the time of 2016) suspended the GIC to dispel the concerns regarding diversion of GIC workers’ wages to nuclear development.
- ※ In 2017, it was reported that ROK government could uncover no direct evidence of the diversion of wages.