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DPRK leader has $ two bn slush fund

SEOUL: North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il is believed to control at least two billion dollars in slush funds, a news agency report said here on Saturday.

Yonhap News Agency quoted an unidentified government source as saying that Kim is believed to receive 60 million to 70 million dollars every year from various sources.

This includes cash gifts from government agencies, donations on his February 16 birthday, and between 100 and 200 kilogrammes of gold ingots from the North's defence ministry.

The North's military is engaged in various ventures to earn hard currency and gold.

Those funds are deposited in Gold Star Bank, a joint venture between Austria and North Korea, in the form of letters of credit or remittances, according to the source.

Kim usually withdraws from the bank seven million to eight million dollars at a time, the report said.

The private coffer of Kim dated back to 1976 when Paik In-Su, deputy chief of Office No. 39 of the North's ruling Workers Party, created a slush fund of between 10 million and 20 million dollars for Kim.

Paik at that time served as an official at the North's trade representative office in Singapore in 1976.

Office No. 39, which is controlled by the party's secretariat, is in charge of exporting agricultural and mining products. AFP