Ex-Defense Secretary Wants N. Korea Trip

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A former U.S. defense secretary has requested a visit to an industrial complex in North Korea that is jointly run with the South, the South Korean Unification Ministry said Friday.

William Perry, who served as defense secretary under President Clinton, asked South Korea to help arrange a trip to the Kaesong industrial zone later this month.

The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said North Korea hasn't given its answer yet as to whether it will allow the trip by Perry and four other Americans.

Perry recently told a U.S. congressional committee that Washington must negotiate with North Korea with a "credible coercive element" that includes the threat of a military attack. Before North Korea test-launched several missiles in July, he suggested that the U.S. launch a pre-emptive strike against the North.

Perry said Friday at a Tokyo forum that the communist regime will not abandon its nuclear weapons program, according to Yonhap news agency.

Separately, Thomas Byrne, vice president and senior credit officer in the sovereign risk unit at Moody's Investors Service, said the sprawling complex in Kaesong indicated a "hopeful future of the two Koreas," as he toured the site earlier Friday, the ministry said.

The industrial complex, located just across the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas, is a symbol of the "establishment of peace" on the divided peninsula, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said during a forum on unification affairs in Seoul.

Despite U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea over its Oct. 9 nuclear test, South Korea has largely kept intact its two major cross-border projects -- the industrial complex and a joint tourism venture at a mountain resort in the North.

The two projects have been a major source of hard currency for cash-strapped North Korea, providing it with at least $900 million since the late 1990s. The U.S. has criticized the projects, saying they funnel unmonitored money to the communist regime that could be diverted to weapons programs.

Currently, 21 South Korean companies operate factories in the zone, employing about 11,000 North Korean workers, according to the ministry.

The two Koreas are still technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Their relations have significantly improved since a summit of their leaders in 2000.