All 15 companies joining the pilot phase of the Gaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea have gone into full operation, some two-and-a-half years after the complex's opening in June 2004.

The Unification Ministry said Tuesday that the operation of a plant by electronics maker Magic Micro late last month made it the last of 15 South Korean companies to begin full operations in the pilot area. The area, which covers one-eighth of the entire complex site, was created as a testing ground for companies operating at Gaesong.

The ministry said that two additional South Korean-owened plants have gone into full operation in another section of the complex site reserved for the first stage of growth.

According to the ministry, the complex hires some 9-thousand-600 North Korean workers whose output has totaled 62 million U.S. dollars. Production in the industrial park grew to seven-point-six-two million U.S. dollars in September, up 12 percent from August.