Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry is visiting the industrial complex in North Korea’s border city of Gaesong Thursday.

Perry is scheduled to tour around plants operating in the Gaesong Industrial Park and will be accompanied by former U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Stephen Bosworth and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

Under the administration of President Bill Clinton, Perry formulated what was called "the Perry process" in dealing with North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship in 1998. The process offered two alternatives to Pyongyang: either forgo its missile and nuclear programs and receive political and economic benefits, or risk actions by other states to contain North Korea's threat.

As the defense chief in 1994, Perry had ordered military brass to prepare a contingency plan to strike North Korea's nuclear facilities when Pyongyang was moving to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

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