The Economic Cooperation Between Korea And DPRK Has Not Been Interrupted. The Joint Venture Shoe Factories Are Located In Dandong, China.

stay The Republic of Korea After the sinking of the Cheonan, the relations between Korea and DPRK turned cold, but the economic cooperation between the two countries was not completely interrupted. A shoe factory located on the border between China and Korea was a successful example of the cooperation between Korean capital and North Korean labor.

At a sports ground in Inchon, the shoes worn by professional football players in South Korea come from the hands of North Korean workers and listen to how they evaluate the hand-made shoes.

Korean workers: "it feels good to wear these shoes, but the inner pads and spikes need improvement. But I didn't feel uncomfortable when I played football.

The shoe factory that made these shoes originally opened in Pyongyang, but the Cheonan incident in 2010 led to a cooling of the relationship between the two Koreas. Economics Most of the contacts were disrupted, so the shoe factory moved to Dandong, China. The company injected $415 thousand from South Korea and hired 20 North Korean workers. They work eight hours a week, work five days a week, and visit North Korea once a month. There are workers who say that they adapt themselves to their new skills.

Korean workers: "at first, I would not." sewing It's hard, but now it's not difficult at all. It's all right now. "

Since the shoe factory started operation in July this year, one thousand pairs of shoes have been produced, priced at 100 dollars a pair, half of which are sold to the Korean market, and the DPRK receives 100 pairs of shoes every month in return.

Although this is not much help for North Korea's foreign exchange demand, the wages of these workers are 200 dollars a month.