Lawmaker Challenges Seoul’s Position on Counterfeiting

At least somebody in South Korea is willing to challenge both the South Korean government and the North Koreans over the laters counterfeiting activities:

Kim Moon-soo, a member of the conservative opposition Grand National Party, produced a U.S. $100 note dated 2003 that he said was counterfeit and had been bought from a North Korean intelligence official in Dandong, China, earlier this year. He said the North Korean was working in a cover job as an official at the North’s Shinheung Trading Company. Mr. Kim said he paid $70 for the $100 note, which he said had not yet been examined by government officials here.

“In South Korea,” he said, “an increasing number of bogus $100 bills are being discovered. There were 189 found here in 2001, 286 in 2002, 544 in 2003 and 667 in 2004. And last year through September alone, 1,900 fake bills were found in Korea.”
He demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, who was attending legislative oversight hearings, of conflicting remarks by Seoul officials about the counterfeiting.

Lee Tae-sik, Korea’s ambassador to the United States, has acknowledged North Korea’s role in counterfeiting, he reminded Mr. Lee. But, he continued, Kim Seung-kyu, who heads the National Intelligence Service, has said he knows nothing about any North Korean counterfeiting since 1998. He complained that Seoul should not be defending North Korea on the matter.

No North Korean since 1998? I wonder what he thinks of the fact a North Korean diplomat was picked up with possible counterfeit US currency in Mongolia?