hankyoreh

A 45-year-old woman who lives in Seoul tried to send money to an older sister who lives overseas, but the transfer was blocked. Her financial woes are due to her name, which is Kim Jong-un – the same as the leader of North Korea.

According to various sources at Shinhan Bank who spoke to the Hankyoreh on Sept. 4, Kim wired 30 million won (US$27,042) to her sister, who lives in South Africa, on Aug. 10, using a branch of the bank located in Yangcheon District, Seoul. But 20 days went by without the money reaching her sister’s bank account.

After hearing from her sister that the money had not arrived, Kim made an inquiry with Shinhan Bank on Sept. 30 only to learn that the money was tied up at Standard Chartered Bank in New York.

Shinhan Bank told Kim that the wire transfer had not been completed because the name of the remitter was listed as “Kim Jong-un.”

After converting the money into dollars, Shinhan Bank sent it to Standard Chartered Bank in New York, which then forwarded the money to a bank in South Africa. But the South African bank returned the money to Standard Chartered because the name “Kim Jong-un” provoked suspicions that the money was being used to finance terrorism.

The South African bank appears to have been worried about the possible ramifications of accepting the money since Kim Jong-un is included on the US’s financial blacklist.

Standard Chartered has yet to return the money to Shinhan Bank since it is still investigating the possibility of a connection with North Korean terrorism financing. Since it is unclear when the Standard Chartered investigation will conclude, Shinhan Bank has not returned Kim’s money, either.

“We even sent Standard Chartered documents proving Kim’s identity, but the bank has a strict policy on investigating terrorism financing, and there’s no way to tell how long it will take. We are pushing Standard Chartered to return the money as quickly as possible,” said a staff member at Shinhan Bank.

By Lee Jeong-hun, staff reporter

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