North Korea Was Charged By US For Misus UN Aid Funds

The United States is accusing the U.N. development agency of allowing North Korea to illegally divert tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid funds for its own use. VOA's correspondent at the United Nations, Peter Heinlein, reports Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is asking an external audit of all U.N. aid agencies.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations sent a letter this week to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), charging that the agency's North Korea projects have been systematically used to benefit of the Kim Jong Il regime.

A copy of the letter signed by the U.S. ambassador for U.N. management and reform, Mark Wallace, and obtained by VOA suggests that tens of millions of dollars may have been illegally diverted to North Korea's coffers since 1998, with the complicity of the UNDP board of directors.

The story was first reported in Friday's edition of The Wall Street Journal newspaper.

Ambassador Wallace was not available Friday, and a U.S. mission spokesman declined to comment on the allegations. But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, met urgently with UNDP Associate Administrator Ad Melkert to discuss the matter. more