A confidential U.S. State Department report detailed the misuse of at least $5 million in U.N. Development Program funds over the past decade, diverted by the Pyongyang government to pay for property in France, the United Kingdom and Canada, among others. The report, as presented by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad to the agency, “indicated an apparent misuse and diversion of UNDP funds, business dealings with certain suspect entities affiliated with the DPRK (North Korea), UNDP procurement of potential dual-use equipment and information related to further use of counterfeit US currency in the DPRK country program.” Although a similar U.N. audit showed dubious hiring procedures and financial practices made by the agency in North Korea, where it ceased operations last March, further investigation is underway. “UNDP takes these allegations very seriously and has asked the U.S. Mission to provide all available documentation to substantiate the allegations and to facilitate UNDP’s own immediate review of them,” said agency spokesman David Morrison. (Sources: US unveils new charges that North Korea misused UN aid/Agence France-Presse; U.S. Alleges North Korea Is Misusing Aid for Poor/The Washington Post)
