Baek Hyunjin: "Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Produced Report Containing Measures to Evade North Korea Sanctions"

Culture Ministry Audit Criticism... Minister Hwang Hee Says "It's Only at the Research Service Level"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government has been accused of creating a report containing measures to evade sanctions on North Korea for the purpose of developing tourism to the North. On the 1st, Bae Hyun-jin, a member of the People Power Party, stated at the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, "A report containing ways to evade UN Security Council sanctions was produced as a commissioned project by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism."

The report in question was prepared by the Korea Tourism Organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which commissioned the Korea Tourism Development Institute and Hyundai Research Institute twice, in November 2019 and last March. Approximately 300 million won was invested. Rep. Bae said, "A structure has been designed to create a paper company using funds from national policy banks and private financial institutions to distribute profits to North Korea," adding, "It is a strange structure where North Korea bears almost no risk but receives most of the tourism business profits." She further criticized, "It contains considerations on how to smoothly channel domestic capital into North Korea to establish a tourism resource base there and how to appropriately evade UN Security Council sanctions."

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hwang Hee attended the National Assembly's audit on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 1st, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

In response, Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "This was researched as a follow-up measure after the 2018 inter-Korean summit," and emphasized, "It was only a research project and has never been implemented." He added, "Since there was a summit between the South and North Korean leaders, we considered what to do afterward, which allowed for such research," and explained, "The paper company can be understood as a special purpose company (SPC)."

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