A one-man crusade against the billions of dollars which Kim Jong Il has bled from North Korea’s state coffers and is rumored to be hiding in banks around the world is gathering speed, with a number of European newspapers picking up the story.
Kim is said to have more than $4 billion hidden in personal bank accounts, mostly in Europe. Until the early part of the 2000s this money was said to be mostly in Swiss banks, but following an uptick in Swiss oversight of money laundering and terrorist financing activities, South Korean officials apparently believe the money was moved to Luxembourg.
Japanese activist Ken Kato has been pursuing Kim’s money for a number of years. A dedicated writer of emails and letters, he has been in contact with many governments on the subject and has received a number of responses from both the Luxembourg and Swiss authorities, stating their intention to investigate all links to North Korea, though couched in denials of any wrongdoing.
Kato disagrees, however, pointing out in an interview with The Daily NK last week that most of Kim’s money has been earned through either illicit activities or through extreme exploitation of the North Korean people; sales of nuclear technology, selling weapons, trafficking narcotics, counterfeiting banknotes, insurance fraud, forced labor, modern-day indentured slavery in foreign countries and the like.
As a result, Kato asserts that any bank looking after Kim’s funds is looking after the proceeds of known criminal activities.
Kato believes that the only way to force banks and governments in those places Kim is likely to be hiding his personal funds is for individuals and organizations to continually push them to reveal who the ultimate holders of the funds in their care are. However this, as Kato told The Daily NK, is not easy; with private banking commanding a fee of 1% or more of the funds managed, it is a lucrative activity, and it requires a lot of pressure to force a bank to forgo a $4 billion deposit.
Yet, Kato’s cause has now been reported in a number of locations, which can only increase that pressure; the story was picked up yesterday by the Telegraph in London, Novinky in the Czech Republic, BFM in Russia, and Indian online media outlet Zee News.
Kato believes that banks know they are dealing with Kim’s billions, and need to discover that it is in their best interests to stop doing so. In the event of the collapse of the Kim regime, he believes, “These banks will be condemned like those who helped the Nazis, they have to understand the risks of this.”
