South Korea will start providing vaccinations for the A/H1N1 influenza to Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) workers at the inter-Korean industrial park of Kaesong, local media reported Tuesday.

The vaccination will be given to some 1,500 workers at the complex starting Wednesday in the border town of Kaesong, with plans to expand it to 40,000 DPRK workers in the coming weeks, Yonhap news agency said citing health ministry officials.

In a related move, the DPRK has also begun requiring South Koreans entering the complex to wear masks since January 16 in order to prevent the spread of the disease, Yonhap said quoting an unnamed source.

These preventive measures come on the heels of an earlier report by Radio Free Asia that three DPRK workers in Kaesong have been confirmed to be infected by the A/H1N1 disease, and that another two or three South Koreans residing inside the complex were sent back to the South after being infected by the virus earlier this month, according to Yonhap.

The Kaesong industrial complex, which has been widely viewed as one of the key symbols of economic cooperation between the two countries, is currently base to some 110 South Korean companies, employing about 42,000 DPRK workers.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2010)