This Korea Herald article (Monday, February 11 2008) reports that corruption claims has instigated Kim Jong-il to start investigating the United Front Department of the Korean Worker’s Party, as well as the National Economic Cooperation Council, which handles business with South Korea entrepreneurs.
North Korea is conducting a major investigation into corruption at state agencies which handle business projects with South Korea and aid from Seoul, a report said.
Its leader Kim Jong-il ordered an investigation into the ruling communist party’s United Front Department, following allegations that some top party and administration officials took bribes as they promoted the business projects, Yonhap News said.
“The probe was launched as National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il said there was a lack of supervision over the United Front Department, although lots of suspicions were raised over the department’s corruption,” one source told Yonhap News.
Kim became furious after hearing claims that some party and government officials pocketed bribes and diverted food and other aid from South Korea to the black market.
“Even those who have eaten for free 1 gram of flour from South Korea should cough it up,” one source in Seoul quoted a North Korean official as saying.
Also under investigation is the National Economic Cooperation Council, a government body which handles business with South Korean entrepreneurs, the sources said.
They said its chief, Jeong Woon-eop, is under arrest pending investigation into claims that he took “huge amounts” of bribes.
The rare move comes as South Korea’s President-elect Lee Myung-bak said he would review cooperation projects with the North, and make it harder for the communist neighbor to receive aid by linking handouts to progress on its nuclear disarmament.
The hard-line communist state suffered a famine starting in the mid-1990s which killed hundreds of thousands of people. Since then, it has relied on outside aid to help feed its people.
South Korea is a major donor, providing 400,000 tons of rice aid a year. It also promotes joint business projects under its Sunshine engagement policy with the North.
Human Rights Watch researcher Kay Seok said last year that much of Seoul’s rice aid failed to reach the hungriest because of corrupt officials and a lack of proper monitoring.
Tags: Corruption, DPRK, Kim Jong-il, National Economic Cooperation Council, North Korea, The Korea Herald, United Front Department
Saturday, February 23, 2008, 1:29am at 1:29 am
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