South Korean officials and businessmen are visiting North Korea to conduct on-site inspections for inter-Korean shipbuilding projects.

Commerce Ministry official Choi Pyeong-rak, who heads the ministry's office of key manufacturing industries, is leading the 25-member delegation on its visit to the North Korean port cities of Nampo and Wonsan.

The team comprises government officials from the Commerce and Unification Ministries, as well as representatives of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries and other local shipbuilders. It also includes officials from the Korea Electric Power Corporation, which will handle concerns on power supplies for the new complexes.

The experts are mulling the building of a ship repair center in Nampo on North Korea's west coast and a block assembly center in Wonsan on the east coast.