|
October 06, 2008
|
|
| Fake U.S. bills were traded at a South Korean-developed resort near a scenic North Korean mountain, a ruling party lawmaker said yesterday. A total of 62 counterfeit U.S. notes, including 61 $100 bills, were discovered at the Mount Kumgang resort before 2007, said Rep. Lee Jeong-hyun of the ruling Grand National Party. The lawmaker cited information obtained from Seoul’s Unification Ministry and Hyundai Asan Corp., the resort’s operator. The fake U.S. bills were circulated at a duty-free store, a spa and other shops at the resort site, according to Lee. The origin of the counterfeit notes is uncertain, but both Hyundai Asan and the ministry believe the bogus dollars were circulated by South Korean tourists, the lawmaker said. “Verifying the matter is impossible right now,” the ministry told Lee. The U.S. government has long accused North Korea of counterfeiting its currency notes and passing them off in various countries. North Korea denies the accusation. Tours to the mountain resort on the North’s east coast, which has been open to South Korean visitors since 1998, have been suspended since mid-July after a 53-year-old housewife from Seoul, Park Wang-ja, was fatally shot by a North Korean soldier. Pyongyang has rejected requests to make a joint investigation into the shooting, and maintains that Park was responsible for her death as she wandered into a restricted military zone. Yonhap |
|
