A trade policy expert at the U.S. Heritage Foundation has dismissed critics' concerns that a pending South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement could allow the import of North Korean goods from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

In a report posted on the U.S. think tank’s website Thursday, the foundation’s Bryan Riley said that such concerns are a “non-issue.”

Riley said that with or without the trade deal, the U.S. government will continue to control imports from Gaesong and the rest of North Korea.

Riley’s statement comes after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said earlier this month that Washington has no intention to change its long-time policies that ban the entry of North Korean products into the U.S. He added that he had made clear to South Korean officials that the U.S. will not import any goods produced in the North.

Campbell made the remark during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.