Ruling party raises allegations of N. Korea cash remittance case involving former gov't

Politics 13:55 November 17, 2022

SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- The interim chief of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday raised a claim that the former government of ex-President Moon Jae-in was involved in a case in which a South Korean underwear company allegedly smuggled huge sums of foreign currency into North Korea about three years ago.

Prosecutors have been investigating allegations that Ssangbangwool Group secretly sent millions of U.S. dollars to China between 2018-19 and that the money was sent to North Korea.

"The case is developing into a bribery scandal involving North Korea and the Moon Jae-in administration," PPP chief Chung Jin-suk said in a party meeting.

Chung demanded Moon's answers, citing the prosecution that Ssangbangwool sent around $7 million to Pyongyang.

He also claimed the money was delivered to Kim Yong-chol, the then head of the North's United Front Department..

"How could the private firm Ssangbangwool and the Asia Pacific Exchange Association have delivered bribes to Kim Yong-chol without an arrangement from the Moon Jae-in government and the National Intelligence Service?" Chung said, raising suspicions that the former government paid Pyongyang off to strike a deal to hold the 2019 Hanoi summit between the United States and North Korea.

The APEA is a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization also accused of being connected to the currency smuggling case.

"If the money illegally sent to North Korea was used for its leader Kim Jong-un's nuclear weapons development, the Moon Jae-in government should be held accountable," Chung said.