Chung Mong-hun Soon Clarifies His Position on the Secret Remittance to the North

With President Kim Dae-jung issuing a public statement concerning the Hyundai’s secret payment to North Korea on Feb.14, Chung Mong-hun, chairman of Hyundai Asan, for his part, expressed his intent to declare his position by saying, “I will demonstrate my position on the matter soon or later.”

Hyundai Asan chairman Chung Mong-hun, who set off to a pilot overland tour to the North’s Mt. Geumgang earlier that day, said, “I have not made a decision yet whether to issue a public statement regarding the issue. However, if necessary, Hyundai will express its position on the money transfer to the North.”

Kim Youn-kyu, president of Hyundai Asan, who accompanied Chairman Chung, also hinted that the Hyundai Asan chairman would soon express his position on the matter.

It is the first time for the chairman Chung’s side to express his willingness to talk about the issue publicly since the suspicion surrounding the secret payment to the North was emerged in Sep.25 last year. At that time, chairman Chung continuously said, “It is a nonsense to talk about there was a money transfer to the North,” or “There is nothing that I know about.”

Although both chairman Chung and president Kim did not mention the exact timing when Hyundai will declare its position on the matter, it is highly likely that the timing will be right after their returning from the pilot overland tour, sources said.

The group of the pilot overland two-day tour to Mt. Geumgang led by chairman Chung, is expected to return to Seoul late afternoon on Feb.15.

Myung-Jai Lee mjlee@donga.com