North denounces bill to probe cash deals

North Korea denounced the recent approval of a bill to name an independent counsel to investigate money transfers to North Korea under the Kim Dae-jung administration.
In a broadcast by the state-run Central TV, the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland released a statement condemning the South Korean legislative action.
“The Grand Nationals are calling legitimate economic exchanges between civilians of the two Koreas a crime,” the statement said. “The Grand Nationals forcibly passed the bill to investigate the case.” It did not repeat the allegation that prompted the bill ― a charge that the money was paid to induce the North to agree to the 2001 summit.
The committee called the investigation a direct challenge to inter-Korean reconciliation.