About 10 companies in the Gaesong Industrial Complex are reportedly behind on their wage payments.

An expert on the Gaesong Industrial Complex said on Saturday that as of late-November, the total payment in arrears was approximately 70-thousand dollars.

North Korea raised that issue during the South-North Korea joint inspection of industrial parks in China and Vietnam in mid-December 2009.

A government official explained that the North Korean Gaesong Industrial Complex authority receives workers’ pay in dollars as a lump sum then allocates them as coupons and cash in North Korean currency. Therefore, when wage payments are delayed, the authority must take responsibility for the workers’ livelihood.

Currently in the Gaesong Complex, about 120 companies hire 40-thousand North Korean workers. The minimum wage agreed upon by the two Koreas is about 58 dollars per month (excluding social insurance).