North Korea Misspent Funds From U.N., Diplomats Say

Thom Shanker
June 10, 2007
New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/world/asia/10nations.html
Senior American diplomats at the United Nations have compiled new information indicating that several million dollars in United Nations development money had been paid to a North Korean entity closely associated with that nation’s programs to develop unconventional weapons and sell missiles abroad.
According to diplomats at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the American inquiry found that the development money for North Korea had also been used to purchase “dual use” equipment, which has both civilian and military applications, including mass spectrometers, sophisticated global positioning systems and advanced computer hardware.
The diplomats, speaking on traditional ground rules of anonymity to describe private discussions among senior officials at United Nations headquarters over recent days, said the American investigation had also found evidence that up to $3 million in development funds were used by the North Korean government to purchase buildings and houses in Europe and North America.
The American ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, and his deputy, Mark D. Wallace, laid out the findings in recent days in a meeting with Kemal Dervis, administrator of the United Nations Development Program, United Nations officials said.
American officials declined to discuss the substance of the meeting, but Richard A. Grenell, the spokesman for the American mission to the United Nations, said, “We were quite encouraged about how Administrator Dervis came out immediately and committed to investigate the matter.”
Details of the United Nations meeting and of alleged abuses regarding development funds for North Korea were first reported in Saturday editions of The Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post.
Other abuses alleged in the American inquiry include instances of North Korea using counterfeit bills in currency transactions that were part of United Nations development programs, perhaps aiding money laundering efforts, diplomats said.