U.S. Lawmaker Dismisses Kaesong Manufacturers' Pleas

A senior U.S. congressman on Tuesday told Korean manufacturers that the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex can reopen only once there is progress on the North Korean denuclearization.

Brad Sherman, the chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee at the House of Representatives, was speaking in a meeting with South Korean manufacturers in Washington.

"Whether it is complete [denuclearization], which is the policy of both governments, or even a reduced but still critical limit on the North Korea nuclear program, we have not achieved either one of those objectives. Until we do, it seems unlikely that Kaesong will reopen," Sherman said.

Manufacturers with operations in the shuttered industrial park sent a delegation to Washington with an implausible scheme to reopen the park as an international industrial zone.

They invited all congressmen to the meeting, but only three Democrats bothered to turn up 40 minutes late, according to Voice of America.