Korea Taesong Bank ( ko, 조선 대성 은행;
sometimes called Daesong Bank, Dae-Sung Bank
or Taesong General Trading Corporation;
in Japan called Chosun Tae Seong-Unhan; Tae-bank, Choson Taesong Unhaeng
) is a North Korean financial institution.
Michael Breen (author)
Michael Breen (born 31 July 1952) is an English author, consultant and journalist covering North and South Korea.
Breen writes occasional opinion columns for international and South Korean media. Since 2000, he has written a featured column for '' ...
Kim Jong-Il, ''Revised and Updated: Kim Jong-il North Korea's Dear Leader'' 2012 1118153774 "Kim Jong-il: "the Daesong Group, which owns the Daesong Bank and the Vienna-based Golden Star Bank."
The Korea Taesong Bank is reportedly controlled by
Room 39
Room 39 (officially Central Committee Bureau 39 of the Workers' Party of Korea, also referred to as Bureau 39, Division 39, or Office 39) is a secretive North Korean party organization that seeks ways to maintain the foreign currency slush fu ...
.
The
Golden Star Bank
The Golden Star Bank was North Korea's last bank in Europe.
History
It was established in 1982, located in Vienna, Austria, and owned by Taesong Bank. In 2003, the Austrian Interior Ministry released a report that claimed that the bank was eng ...
, founded as a corporation in Vienna, Austria, was the only North Korean bank in Europe but was closed in 2004, was a subsidiary of the Taesong Bank.
was an auditor of the Golden Star Bank.
"Taesong Bank, which received remittances from Mt. Kumgang tourism, is controlled by Room 39, and is also in charge of the exports of agricultural and fisheries products."
Projects
* In 1989, it was to jointly develop the area around Mount Kumgang,
on the eastern coast of North Korea, as a tourist site with Hyundai.
* The company has been implicated in the smuggling of arms into and out of North Korea
and "Involved in facilitating proliferation financing projects."
Members
* In 1989, Choe Su-gil, president of the Taesong Bank of North Korea
and consultant to the Korean Association for the Promotion of Asian Trade.
* In 2014, Kim Yo-jong took control of Taesong Bank, the
Reunification and Development Bank, and a number of tourism and railway projects
* In 2014, Yun Tae-hyong, a regional manager in the Russian Far East for the Taesong Bank, defected to Russia.
References
Banks of North Korea
{{NorthKorea-company-stub