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The South Korean government concealed the fact that U.S. investigators told it US$140,000 in counterfeit dollars found in Seoul¡¯s Namdaemun market last April was made in North Korea, it emerged Sunday. Police at the time arrested three people who tried to exchange 1,400 so-called supernotes at a local money changer. They allegedly bought the supernotes from a broker in Shenyang, China.
U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow recently alluded to an incident ¡°where a large amount of counterfeit dollars was confiscated in Korea,¡± and police here commented they asked for investigative cooperation from Chinese authorities to discover the source of the fakes but had yet to receive an answer.
But a U.S. government source said Korean investigation authorities handed some of the confiscated notes to the U.S. and asked their opinion whether they were made in the North. After comparing them with other counterfeit dollars found elsewhere, the U.S. told Seoul it believed they were made in North Korea. However, the Foreign Ministry denied it received any notification from the U.S. on the issue, while investigators and information officials declined to comment.
The source also said U.S. Treasury investigators presented supernotes they say were produced by the North between 2001 and 2003 as evidence to South Korean authorities when they visited here last month.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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