Two analysts from Moody's Investors Service have given the Gaesong Industrial Complex a positive assessment after touring the inter-Korean business site.

Thomas Byrne and Steven Hess visited several South Korean companies operating there Friday.

South Korean officials say that the analysts noted that the Gaesong Industrial Complex represents the optimistic future of South and North Korea.

Earlier in the day, they arrived in South Korea to make their annual review of Asia's third-largest economy, which will run until next Wednesday. This visit also marked the first time for Moody's review team to travel North and visit the complex at Gaesong.

The Gaesong Industrial Complex is one of two major cross-border projects South Korea has kept afloat in spite of U.N. sanctions on the North following its nuclear test in October. The two Koreas also run a joint tourism project in the North's scenic Mount Geumgang.

At Gaesong, South Korean businesses take advantage of the cheap North Korean labor to produce various goods. Twenty-one South Korean factories employ about 11,160 North Korean workers there.