Opposition Party Calls for Embezzlement Investigation

The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is asking for a thorough investigation into Hyundai Asan vice-chairman Kim Yoon-kyu’s alleged misappropriation of South-North cooperation funds on October 4th.

GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye said in an Assembly steering committee on the same day, “This kind of scandal happened again, although we have stressed the transparent implementation of policy toward North Korea. Prosecutors should investigate the allegation thoroughly, and there should be an institutional mechanism to secure the transparent operation of the funds.”

She accused the government, saying, “It is alleged that the man in charge of the inter-Korean project used the funds raised by taxing the public for private use, created slush funds with the money and made political donations. I was amazed at how the government could not prevent the funds from being diverted this way.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Unification launched an investigation into whether about 500,000 dollars (about 525 million won) out of the slush funds raised by Kim actually came from the cooperation funds after receiving the internal audit report and relevant materials from the Hyundai Group on the same day.

Earlier, the Ministry had concluded in an executive council that the funds, which were assigned for road works in the Mt. Geumgang tourism complex, but were suspected of being misused, were used in a transparent and appropriate way.

The Board of Audit and Inspection said that it would start auditing if it finds any suspicious acts after looking into the internal report of the Hyundai Group that the Ministry received.

Yong-Gwan Jung yongari@donga.com lovesong@donga.com