Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

How Much Do N. Korean Workers in Kaesong Complex Actually Get?
South Korean companies in an inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea, paid $57.50 per month to their North Korean workers. But controversies have been stirring over how much these workers actually bring home. Some people contend it's as little as about $2.

"I hope you understand that the communist state has a different system in which the government carries out various social programs for its people without levying taxes," the ministry's spokesman Yang Chang-seok told reporters. "Besides, considering the average amount of college graduates' monthly income is around 3,000 to 4,000 won there, workers in Kaesong are not getting underpaid."

The number of North Koreans working at the Kaesong complex surpassed 8,000 last September, according to the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, a North Korean corporation that oversees the complex.
By Lee Jin-woo, Korea Times (October 24, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200610/kt2006102417060011980.htm

[alinkorea]

The Kaesong industrial complex amounts to little more than the 'sweat shops' set up by multi-nationals all over the world. The South Korean government dress it up as 'inter-Korean' co-operation. But both governments are complicit.
`Besides, considering the average college graduates' monthly income is around 3,000 to 4,000 won there, workers in Kaesong are not getting underpaid.''
This is the same lame line used by companies, such as Nike, GM et al. to explain the exploitative practices they've spread throughout the world.

[cbclark4]

It's good to know that finally some one other than the communist goverment is exploiting the N. Koreans.

cbc

[Guri Guy]

Kaesong is a total joke and a way to funnel money to North Korea. This however amazed me. South Korea's got a lot of nerve here:


S. Korean-run industrial park in N. Korea losing appeal in trade talks with U.S.

By Kim Deok-hyun
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- Even before North Korea conducted its first-ever nuclear test, South Korea's push to get its industrial park in the communist country to be covered by a proposed free trade agreement with the U.S. seemed a daunting task.

Now, experts agree that the issue is almost dead, as the North Korean nuclear quagmire is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Some are openly asking the South Korean government to give up the push, calling it a "deal breaker."
Ahead of the fourth round of Seoul-Washington FTA talks set to open on South Korea's resort island of Jeju Monday, tensions are building over the North's nuclear test. Seoul and Washington disagree over how aggressively implement U.N.-imposed sanctions to pressure the North to change its course.

Another article on the subject:

N.Korean Party �Takes 60 Percent of Kaesong Wages�
More than half the salaries paid to North Koreans working at the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Park go to the North Korean Workers� Party, a document written by a team in charge of inter-Korean economic cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy shows. The team reported to the unification minister.

Grand National Party lawmaker Kim Gi-hyeon made the document public on Sunday. According to the memo, US$30 out of the monthly pay of $57.50 goes to the Workers� Party. With $17.50 spent on insurance and other costs, North Korean workers at the complex are left with only $10 a month.

The Unification Ministry has publicly claimed that workers get $66 on average, with 30 percent spent on benefit packages of workers, like housing and medial expenses, and 70 percent going to the workers. A Unification Ministry official on Sunday denied the report. �It is the first I�ve heard about $30 going to the party,� he said. �How could the Industry Ministry know about something that the Unification Ministry didn�t know? We have no idea.�

Man won a month. Worker's paradise eh?

[happeningthang]

[just because]

The workers there are only getting between $8-10 a month..

from that $57
-$30 goes to the north korean government
-$17 goes to insurance,etc

the remainder goes to the worker...

Considering the average wage in North Korea is about 3000 won a month it is a nice wage for any worker there...

[Summer Wine]

The workers are probably told that they are being paid more than South Korean workers As South Korea is a second rate country under the domination of the Imperialist Americans.

The fastest way to change North Korea would be to pay the workers the same wage they would recieve in South Korea and bring in the usual corruption that this much money over a short period would do to North Korea and its system.

[Lizara]

[Summer Wine]