Posted on 08/05/2003 3:36:28 AM PDT by yonif
Seoul, Aug 5. North Korea today accused South Korean conservatives of murdering a Hyundai executive found dead while under investigation for illicit payments of millions of dollars to the Stalinist state.
Chung Mong-Hun, who was on trial in connection with the illegal cash transfer to North Korea in 2000, jumped to his death yesterday from his high-rise office building in downtown Seoul. Police said he committed suicide, according to media sources..
"Chung's death was not a suicide in a true sense of the word, but a murder by South Korea's independent counsel and main opposition Grand National Party which oppose inter-Korean progress," North Korean said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
N. Korea parrots a talking point from local anti-Americans. They never seem to have any disagreements.:) Local conservatives believe that pro-North lefties screwed up the bottom line of Hyudai Asan and dragged Mr. Chung to a criminal conspiracies to funnel cash to N. Korea. Both could have heavily contributed to his death, whatever was his reason for his death.
Most of N. Korean ventures by Hyundai Asan Corporation are money-losing business. The corporation has been sustained by the injection of cash from the S. Korean government. All these "ventures" are overcharged by N. Koreans. N. Korea makes a lot of money, Hyundai Asan loses a lot of money, S. Korean government bails out Hyundai Asan.
The chain is now broken. No bailout money these days after the scandal had been publicized. Even the other Hyundai sister corporations refuse to help. It is likely that Hyundai Asan (noteL: not Hyundai Auto) will go under.
No other corporation is interested in such a clearly money-losing venture. The government may have to take over the entire N. Korean business ventures if it wants to continue them. Which may not be easy. S. Korea is in bad recession. It would be hard to raise extra money to sustain the ventures.
Cash flow to N. Korea could be cut down drastically.
Thanks for trying, though.:)
That is one of the Hyundai Asan's main ventures. It is chraged way over the market price. $100 per person for an essentially crappy package tour. I don't know the exact number, but the market price is less than $50.
Its novelty wore off these days. It used to attract 210,000 people for a year. It was an "in-thing" to do at one time. Now it is down to about 10,000 for this year.
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