Calls mounting in Assembly to trace loans to Hyundai arm

Blasting the government's stance that there are no legal grounds for tracing financial accounts at the Korea Development Bank, both the Grand National Party and the Millennium Democratic Party on Wednesday urged the administration to follow the money trail. The opposition has charged that the trail leads from the Hyundai Group to North Korea.

In a review by the finance and economy and national policy committees at the National Assembly on Wednesday, the Grand Nationals led the attack, demanding that Lee Keun-young, chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, resign.

"Among the 400 billion won [$325 million] in overdraft loans that the bank made to Hyundai Merchant Marine, 300 billion won was not listed on the books. That is fraudulent accounting, so the government should trace the bank accounts," Representative Lee Hahn-koo of the Grand National Party said.

Representative Kim Young-hwan of the Millennium Democratic Party, although saying he doubted that Hyundai had sent such large sums to the North, said, "This politically sensitive issue should be resolved through account-tracking."

Lee Keun-young, the commission chairman, has not yet yielded to pressure for an accounting that has come even from the commission's labor union. But Mr. Lee did say Tuesday that he has asked the Hyundai marine company to report voluntarily on the circumstances surrounding the 490 billion won in loans that critics charge was laundered and sent to North Korea in order to get an invitation for a 2000 visit by President Kim.

by Ko Jung-ae