A U.S. expert on trade and foreign affairs says that goods produced at North Korea’s Gaeseong Industrial Complex would be prohibited from entering the United States even if the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement goes into effect.

Dick Nanto of the Congressional Research Service made the remark during a debate organized by the Korea Economic Institute in Washington on Wednesday.

He noted that Executive Order 13551, which went into effect on September first of last year, prohibits the entry of North Korean goods into the U.S.

Nanto said that the executive order stipulates that goods, services and technologies from North Korea may not be imported into the United States directly or indirectly without license.

He said the wording "indirect" was used in consideration of Congress’s refusal to include Gaeseong goods in the South Korea-U.S. trade deal.