Korean Government Lost its Important Dialogue Channel With North Korea

The death of Chung Mong-hun, chairman of Hyundai Asan Co., made news headlines of foreign news media, which reported that a central figure leading inter-Korean economic projects killed himself and his death may affect the fate of inter-Korean economic cooperation projects.

The Associated Press covered full story of his suicide that chairman Chung was being tried for involvement in a scandal involving US$500 million secretly transferred to North Korea just before the 2000 inter-Korean summit. Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper forecast that the on-going investigation to uncover all truths behind the secret cash transfer to North Korea will face a major impasse due to his death and inter-Korean economic projects will be greatly affected. The Japanese newspaper also said that Hyundai Asan Co. aside, the Korean government, which has promoted engagement policy toward communist North Korea, was embarrassed by its loss of Chung Mong-hun who had been an important dialogue channel with the North. Other Japanese newspapers including the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun also covered news on his death.

American news reporting company CNN reported, “The top South Korean executive of Hyundai, widely known as Korea`s leading auto maker, was on trial for charges stemming from allegations his company helped former President Kim Dae-jung`s government secretly pay North Korea $100 million to get Pyongyang to agree to a landmark summit.” The Dow Johns news agency in the US reported that Chung was also being investigated for alleged doctoring of company books and siphoning billions of dollars into slush funds and if he were found guilty, he might have received a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.

In Germany, major news broadcasting stations such as N-TV and N24 released footage news of chairman Chung`s suicide before and after 1:00 p.m., which was followed by in-depth coverage over his death.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com