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Joint North/South Korean factory rolls out first goods
Edited for brevity.South and North Korea commemorated a production milestone at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex... located just north of the border dividing the two sides. The first products to roll off an assembly line in the special zone were kitchenware... which were quickly delivered across the border to reach South Korean consumers. At around 2 p.m, Wednesday... 1-thousand sets of pots were transported across the heavily fortified border... to be put on shelves at a department store in downtown Seoul. The 'Made in Gaeseong' kitchenware came with a reasonable pricetag of around 19-thousand won... or about 19 U.S. dollars... which is 40 to 50 percent cheaper than South Korean rival products. But consumers say... it's not the price or quality that's making them line up. [Says one customer:] "I'm not purchasing this product for its quality, but because it's meaningful that we can get products here in the South that were made earlier today in the North. I'm really emotional, because I think we have taken a step closer to reunification." How about letting the South export some goods to the Workers' Paradise in return, like cell phones, radios, and TVs? Or is undercutting free labor with grass-and-bark-eating slave labor the whole purpose? Posted by: Dar 2004-12-15 |
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