Anchor: Seoul’s Unification Minister on Sunday appeared on a KBS program and claimed that 70 percent of the wages South Korea paid to North Korean workers at the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex went to key offices of Pyongyang's ruling party. He said that much of the money was spent to develop nuclear missiles.
Our Kim Bum-soo reports.
 
Report: Seoul’s Unification Minister says that 70 percent of the wages paid to North Korean workers at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex flowed into the North’s ruling Workers’ Party and were used to develop nuclear weapons.
 
Appearing on a KBS program on Sunday, Minister Hong Yong-pyo said the government obtained the information through diverse channels.
 
[Sound bite: Unification Minster Hong Yong-pyo (Korean)]
"In case of the Gaeseong complex, workers' wages and other payments are made in dollars in cash, and this money does not go directly to the workers but goes to the [North Korean] authority... And as we have found through various channels, 70 percent of such money went into the office of the chief of staff [of the Workers' Party of Korea]."
"As I said it has been assessed that the money that went into the chief of staff or the Office 39 is used in nuclear and missile development programs and...."
 
While announcing the government's decision to suspend the operation of the inter-Korean factory park last week, Hong said that around 616 billion won, or around 514 million U.S. dollars, went into North Korea through Gaeseong.
 
But Hong's comments to KBS mark the first time that Seoul has acknowledged the size and method of the North's misappropriation of the salaries for its nuclear weapons program. 
 
The minister's remarks stirred controversy as he in effect admitted the possibility that the South Korean government could have violated UN Security Council Resolution 2094 banning the flow of "bulk cash" into North Korea. 
 
[Sound bite: Unification Minster Hong Yong-pyo (Korean)]
"This matter should not be a subject of political debate as I brought this up to raise awareness for the safety of our citizens and national security." 
 
Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-hee on Monday shed light on Minister Hong’s remarks, saying the international community had acknowledged the significance and merits of running the Gaeseong Industrial Complex despite the concerns.

The spokesman, however, declined to provide further proof of the misuse of the money, adding it is not a proper matter to talk about in detail.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.