South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will conduct a joint survey to industrial complexes in China and Vietnam during the period from Dec. 12 to 22, as part of efforts to enhance the operation of their joint industrial park in Kaesong, the Unification Ministry said in Seoul on Thursday.

The 20 members of the joint team, ten from each side, are scheduled to meet in Beijing on Dec. 12, the ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told a press briefing.

The joint team will visit industrial complexes in Qingdao on Dec. 13-14, Suzhou on Dec. 13-14 and Shenzhen on Dec. 17-18, then travel to Yenpong, a Vitenamese complex near Hanoi. The trip will end on Dec. 22, Lee added.

The joint move is the third between the two countries following the first in 2005 and the second in 2007.

The joint team will learn from the successful models in China and Vietnam, so as to contribute to reasonable solution to disputes between the South and North on issues relating to the Kaesong joint industrial park such as land fee, workers' wage levels and preferential investment policies, Lee said.

The inspection will focus on the operation situations at the overseas industrial complexes, ranging from investment environment, management and operation systems to labor management, Lee added.

"We hope with this trip that the South and the North will be able to look at the Kaesong industrial park from an objective perspective and build a consensus for its development," Lee said.

The Kaesong complex, where 116 South Korean companies operate with more than 40,800 DPRK workers, was jointly set up in late 2004 as a reconciliation project of the two sides.

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