[Aju News DB]
A shadowy body controlling North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's slush fund was thrown into the spotlight Monday after Seoul accused Pyongyang of diverting income earned in a suspended inter-Korean industrial zone to leader's luxury life or weapons development.
In a television appearance on Sunday, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said 70 percent of wages paid to workers hired by South Korean firms at the Kaesong industrial complex has been used by the ruling Workers' Party of (North) Korea to bankroll weapons development.
Hong's office, citing various but unidentified sources, mentioned a party organization called "Office 39".
Washington added "Office 39" to its sanctions list in 2010, describing it as a secretive state branch that generates revenues for the North's leadership in part through illicit economic activities.
The sanctions comprise an arms embargo aimed at curbing North Korea's weapons transactions, an asset freeze to apply financial pressure to the leadership and a ban on luxury goods.
The North used to make more than $100 million annually in wages earned by 54,000 workers in the Kaesong joint zone.
Kaesong has been considered a rare legitimate source of hard currency for the impoverished North. The hard currency wages are kept by the state, which passes on a fraction -- in local currency -- to the workers.
Seoul last week shut it down, accusing Pyongyang of stepping up nuclear and missile programs despite repeated warnings from the international community.
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
