South Korea's payment of wages to North Korean workers at a joint industrial park in the North was not in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions even if the money ended up going to the Pyongyang government, a former deputy chief of the South's spy agency said Wednesday.

Jun Ok-hyun, who served as deputy chief of the National Intelligence Service during the 2008-2013 Lee Myung-bak administration, made the claim during a press conference at the National Assembly as some opposition politicians accused the government of running the Gaeseong Industrial Complex despite knowledge that the workers' wages would finance the communist regime.

"The provision of funds to North Korea through the Gaeseong Industrial Complex was a high-level act of governance, not a violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions," Jun said.

Last week, South Korea shut down the complex to cut what it said was a flow of money into Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction program. The move came in response to North Korea's fourth nuclear test last month and long-range rocket launch earlier this month.

"Even if they're U.N. sanctions, they don't restrict high-level acts of governance that are excused as intra-nation exchanges," Jun said. "The Gaeseong Industrial Complex is also unique because it is a testing ground for reunification."

Jun warned critics against raising such allegations against the government, saying the government won't be mocked for violating "simple" U.N. sanctions on trade with North Korea, but they likely will be for making such comments.

He also called for South Korea's own nuclear armament to respond to the growing security threat from North Korea, as well as a separate forum to replace the long-stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear program. (Yonhap)