Kaesong Update

[Correction: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. A reader (thanks!) notes that Ms. Schwab is the U.S. Trade Representative. As it happens, the USTR has been independent from the State Department since 1962! My apologies to the State Department for the unintended defamation.]

This may be the most unequivocal thing I’ve ever heard anyone in our State Department say, ever. And it pertains to including (North Korean) Kaesong products in a possible FTA with South Korea:

The United States cannot agree to South Korea’s request for a free trade pact between the two countries to include goods made in an industrial park in North Korea, the top U.S. trade official said on Friday.

“It won’t happen, can’t happen,” U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in an interview taped for C-Span television’s “The Newsmakers” that was set to air on Sunday. “That won’t change.”

Any questions?