Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a senior official of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) on charges he instructed heads of a failed credit union to embezzle about 830 million yen of the union's funds.
In addition to Kang Young Kwan, 66, a member of Chongryun's central standing committee and former head of its financial bureau, prosecutors indicted Chong Gyong Saeng, 64, former head of Chogin Tokyo, which mainly served pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in the Tokyo area, and Sin Byong Jung, 54, also a former head of the credit union.
According to the indictment, Kang instructed Chong to illegally divert about 830 million yen from the credit union's funds in the form of fake loans to 23 firms and individuals between December 1994 and April 1998.
Chong and Sin were earlier indicted on charges of obstructing a 1998 Tokyo Metropolitan Government financial inspection of the union.
The credit union collapsed in May 1999 and was effectively under Chongryun's control.