Seoul had ordered it closed after Pyongyang defied international warnings and tested a long-range rocket. But reopening Kaesong could go against the spirit of U. And for Moon to justify a return to engagement, North Korea would first need to at least signal a concession, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University in South Korea. The isolated country has carried out five nuclear tests and a series of missile tests despite ever-tightening U.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at any time that can strike the mainland United States with a nuclear weapon. For a graphic on South Korea's presidential election click tmsnrt. Born out of the first of only two summits between leaders of the two Koreas in , the Kaesong project opened to much fanfare in as a model of commercial cooperation: capital would come from South Korea and cheap labor from the North.
But critics say hundreds of millions of dollars paid to North Korea over the years as wages for workers at Kaesong were used to fund the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. North Korea had demanded that the wages be paid to the state and not directly to the workers. Jong Kun Choi, who advises the year-old Moon on foreign policy, said the candidate believes better inter-Korean relations is the best way to provide security on the Korean peninsula.
Moon, the son of North Korean refugees who came to the South during the Korean War, would end nine years of conservative rule in Seoul if elected, a time when Pyongyang stepped up its nuclear and missile tests.
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Driving would mean doing so very actively with the United States, and Pyongyang. Moon, a human rights lawyer who was a top aide to the late president Roh, has Washington worried his more moderate approach could undercut efforts to increase pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang, senior South Korean government officials said.
