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Journalism of Courage
An executive of S Korea’s Hyundai group acknowledged on Sunday that his firm had secretly sent $500 million to N Korea, saying the payments secured business rights and helped bring about a landmark North-South summit. Hyundai Asian Corp Chairman Chung Mong-hun apologised ‘‘with my head bowed’’, for controversy over the payments, which he said had secured for Hyundai the exclusive rights to seven business projects in North Korea. But Chung added: ‘‘I also thought that the payments contributed to the summit.’’
South Korean President Kim Dae Jung apologised to the country on Friday over two-week-old revelations that Hyundai sent cash to Pyongyang in 2000, including $200 million just days before Kim’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. But Kim’s government has denied allegations that the cash and state loans sent to the North by Hyundai Merchant Marine were used to entice Kim Jong Il to hold the summit in June 2000.
The ‘‘cash-for-summit’’ scandal has complicated the transition from Kim Dae Jung to his elected successor Roh Moo-hyun this month and tainted South dealing with North Korea at a time when South-North ties are strained by an international crisis over the North’s suspected attempts to build nuclear weapons.
