South Korean companies operating in North Korea will once again be banned from shipping goods and materials for consignment trade with North Korea from early next month, the Unification
Ministry said Wednesday.
The application deadline was set for Aug. 10, when the temporary lift of the existing ban will end, the ministry said.
On May 24, South Korea prohibited all shipments to the North as part of punitive actions against the communist neighbor it blamed for a deadly
torpedo attack on one of its warships. The March 26 sinking in the Yellow Sea killed 46 sailors.
More than 500 hundred South Korean companies were doing consignment trade with the North, in which they send raw material and bring back processed goods. Such trade amounted to US$254 million in 2009.
Seoul's shipment ban seriously affected South Korean businesses operating at the North's border city of Kaesong, where some 120 firms from the South operate manufacturing lines using the North's relatively cheap labor costs.
The companies' complaints forced the government to temporarily lift the ban, on condition that the business contracts were made before May 24.