South Korea Thursday opened an electricity sub-station to boost power to a Seoul-funded industrial estate in North Korea which aims to teach the communist state about the market economy.
The sub-station in the border city of Kaesong opened after a ceremony attended by South Korea's Energy Minister Kim Young-Joo and North Korean officials, Kim's office said. It can receive 100,000 kilowatts of electricity from South Korea, enough to serve up to 30,000 households, the ministry said.
South Korea had provided 15,000 kilowatts of electricity to the complex through low-voltage cables since it was opened in 2004. "The restoration of power transmission lines has an important meaning as it will promote inter-Korean peace and co-prosperity," Kim said in a speech.
Officials said the electricity would be used only in the complex, which now has 23 South Korean-owned factories. North Korea is theoretically capable of generating up to seven million kilowatts of electricity, but it only produces around two million due to lack of fuel and dilapidated infrastructure, Yonhap news agency said.
Seoul hopes to make Kaesong a development model, combining its capital and the North's cheap labour, to reduce tensions which have existed since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
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