Moon Jae-in’s Blue House Official: “Bundles of Cash Sent to North Korea through Seongnam Airport”
2023-2-9, JoongAng Ilbo [TRANSLATION]
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In that case, did the Moon Jae-in government not have any remittances to North Korea? In this regard, I have heard something noteworthy. According to an official who worked at the presidential Blue House around the time of the three inter-Korean summits held in 2018, large bundles of dollars exceeding the regulations were sent to North Korea through Seoul Airport in Seongnam [K-16] [the location of the presidential airplanes], where flights to North Korea, including presidential planes, flew to and from North Korea, and the return flights were loaded with books on idolizing the hereditary regimes of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un and on communist ideology.
At the time, there were officials dispatched by the Ministry of Justice and the Customs Administration in charge of immigration control at Seoul Airport, but it is said that bundles of dollars that exceeded the limit ($10,000 per person) that could be taken out without declaration were sent to North Korea without any restraint.
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On September 19, 2019, then President Moon Jae-in delivered an unprecedented live speech to 150,000 Pyongyang citizens at the May 1 Stadium in Nunglado. A high-ranking official from the National Intelligence Service, who has extensive experience in secret negotiations with North Korea, asserted, “Without exception, North Korea demands kickback money after each secret contact,” and that “North Korea would most likely have demanded a corresponding price for a mega-political event, such as Moon giving a speech in Pyongyang, which would far exceed Kim Jong-un’s gift of Pungsan Dogs [to Moon Jae-in].”
Not even [a bowl of] Pyongyang Naengmyun [a noodle dish] is free, so who would believe that giving a speech in Pyongyang would be free? Unless it was for humanitarian reasons, the crime of smearing the flag [treason] by smuggling bribe money to North Korea should be condemned without exception. This is because the money sent to North Korea is diverted to developing nuclear missiles and eventually returns as a deadly boomerang for South Korea’s security and people’s lives.
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[Note: If confirmed, this transfer to North Korea would constitute sanctions violations. There is no news that the current South Korean government is investigating this issue. Meanwhile, Im Jong-seok, Moon’s former Chief of Staff with Jusapa (Juche ideology/KimIlSongism worship) background, swiftly called for firing the editorial writer at JoongAng Ilbo for writing the article.]
