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North Korea diverted some W2 billion (US$1=W1,079) worth of asphalt pitch and subsidiary materials provided for repair of the runway at Mt. Baekdu Airport from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the Board of Audit and Inspection said Monday.
The government watchdog said agencies including the Unification Ministry ¡°made no preparations to deal with shoddy construction or illegal diversion of the fund¡± They took ¡°no action even when a senior North Korean cabinet counselor publicly said in 2006 the North would use a shipment to Nampo Port out of the aid materials to pave the runway of Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang¡± rather than Mt. Baekdu Airport.
Following a request from the North in July 2005, the Unification Ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization bought 8,000 tons of asphalt pitch and subsidiary materials with about W4.9 billion from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to repair Mt. Baekdu runway.
But inspection by the KTO in December 2005 showed construction to be shoddy because an insufficient amount of asphalt had been used. The Unification Ministry and the KTO bought another 8,000 tons of asphalt pitch and other materials with W4.4 billion from the fund in January 2006 and delivered them to the North.
But an inspection in 2007 by the Korea Expressway Corporation found that the paving was no different from that in December 2005, and that 3,497 tons of asphalt pitch had not been used to repair the runway, the BAI said.
The BAI presumes that W2 billion worth of aid materials were diverted illegally for other purposes.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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