[THE INVESTOR]  The government has provided 84 percent of state funds -- 438.5 billion won (US$399.80 million) out of about 500 billion -- to South Korean companies that operated at the Kaesong Industrial Park, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry on Sept. 28.

Seoul shut down the factory zone in the North’s border city of Kaesong on Feb. 10 in response to the latter’s nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch the following month.

The shutdown of the complex may have caused 1.5 trillion won in losses, according to local firms, adding that the government‘s financial support measures are not sufficient.

The complex, which opened in 2004, had served as a major revenue source for the cash-strapped North.

A total of 124 South Korean companies operated in the zone, some 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul, employing more than 54,000 North Korean workers to produce labor-intensive goods, such as clothes and utensils.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)