Seoul defends inter-Korean projects

SEOUL, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- South Korea will not give up projects in North Korea despite U.S. concerns that they might benefit the communist country, Seoul's top official said Wednesday.

But Song Min-soon, chief presidential secretary for security, said South Korea would "review and adjust parts of the operation" of the projects in the North, in an effort to ease U.S. concerns.

The Seoul government has come under mounting pressure to suspend the cross-border projects -- the Kaesong industrial complex and the Mount Kumgang tours -- which critics say could be used to fund the North's nuclear programs.

"We will heed demands from the international community in seeking to change operational methods for the Kumgang and Kaesong projects," Song told a Seoul forum. "But the government has never expressed an intention to shut down the Kaesong and Kumgang projects," he said.

His remark comes after Alexander Vershbow, U.S. ambassador to South Korea, urged Seoul and Beijing to "thoroughly" review their economic ties with North Korea to ensure that they do not finance Pyongyang's programs for weapons of mass destruction.

"We should do everything to cut off support for North Korea's nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction programs," Vershbow said in a speech in Seoul. "That's what the central goal of the resolution is."

Seoul is set to face bigger pressure as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to visit Seoul Thursday to discuss implementation of a U.S.-led United Nations Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea.

The United States has urged South Korea to halt its economic cooperation projects with North Korea in a concert effort to punish its nuclear bomb test last week.