Anchor: South Korean businesses that lost their production bases at the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex are now seeking to build new factories overseas. Nearly two months after the factory park was shut down following the North's nuclear and missile tests, South Korean Gaeseong company officials traveled to Vietnam to survey the Southeast Asian country's business environment.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: South Korean companies whose factories are shut down at the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex are considering Vietnam as an alternative place to set up their production bases. 

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency(KOTRA) said on Thursday that representatives of 19 companies are visiting the Vietnamese cities of Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang and Hanoi from Monday.

They are surveying the business environment there while attending seminars and meetings until Friday.

In a February survey of Gaeseong companies seeking overseas investment, 46 out of 51 companies viewed Vietnam positively, citing the country's high productivity, low labor costs and good logistics conditions.

KOTRA launched a team in late February to support South Korean firms hit by the closure of the complex.

The South Korean companies had to leave their business assets and products behind at the factory park in February shortly after the North announced to freeze all their properties.

The North expelled the South Koreans as Seoul decided to suspend the Gaesong park in response to the communist country's latest nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The South Korean unification minister said that money went to North Korea through the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and was used for developing nuclear weapons.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.