Song Eon-seok: "6 Trillion Won Lent to North Korea Unpaid... 'Cut Off' Attitude"

"Various Measures Including Active Repayment Demands Must Be Considered"

Song Eon-seok, the Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the People Power Party, is making a procedural statement at the full meeting of the Steering Committee held at the National Assembly on April 29. On that day, the Steering Committee passed a resolution to establish a Special Committee on Judicial Reform (Sage Special Committee) as a National Assembly special committee to discuss the launch of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (Jungsucheong), with the People Power Party absent./Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Myunghwan] It has been revealed that the amount of money our government has lent to North Korea but has not received back, including principal, interest, and delayed compensation, exceeds 600 billion won.

According to data received by People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seok, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) on the 10th, as of the end of August, the unpaid principal and delayed compensation on loans to North Korea amounted to 617.3 billion won (444.6 million USD). This amount was calculated using the won-dollar exchange rate of 1,388.5 won as of the 7th.

According to Rep. Song, KEXIM transferred a total of 1.2954 trillion won (933 million USD) to North Korea as loans from 2000 to 2007 during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations. By type, food loans were the largest at 999.7 billion won (720 million USD), followed by material and equipment loans at 184.6 billion won (133 million USD), and light industry raw material loans at 111 billion won (8 million USD).

The grace period for loans to North Korea ranges from 5 to 10 years, with a repayment period of 15 to 30 years. When the repayment period arrives, partial principal and interest must be repaid, and delayed compensation is imposed if repayment is not made.

By type, food loans have an overdue principal of 354.3 billion won (255.2 million USD), overdue interest of 100.4 billion won (72.3 million USD), and delayed compensation of 36 billion won (25.9 million USD), totaling 490.7 billion won (353.4 million USD) unpaid. For light industry loans, the overdue principal is 96.5 billion won (69.5 million USD), overdue interest 11 billion won (7.9 million USD), and delayed compensation 19.2 billion won (13.8 million USD), totaling 126.6 billion won (91.2 million USD) unpaid.

In particular, for the material and equipment loans for the 2002 inter-Korean railway and road projects, the repayment schedule has not been determined due to the deterioration of inter-Korean relations and suspension of construction following the 2008 shooting incident involving tourists in Mount Kumgang. However, Rep. Song pointed out that there have been no discussions between the two Koreas to set a repayment schedule during this period.

The unpaid amount of loans to North Korea has increased by about 56 billion won (40.4 million USD) annually. Over the past decade, KEXIM, the contracting party of the loan agreements, has sent 76 repayment demand notices via international mail and fax to the Pyongyang-based Korea Trade Bank, but North Korea has consistently remained silent, Rep. Song stated.

Rep. Song criticized, "The problem is North Korea's 'take it or leave it' attitude, not even repaying the interest, let alone the principal." He added, "The Moon Jae-in administration neglected the issue of loan repayments to North Korea, which were lent with taxpayers' money, and focused only on a submissive 'show peace show' based on a subservient inter-Korean relationship. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration must actively demand loan repayments and consider various measures to protect the interests of our citizens, such as seizing North Korea's overseas assets."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.