OSAKA -- Business began Monday at three credit unions created to take over the banking operations of the failed Chogin Kinki Credit Union, which mainly served pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan, after officials at the lender were arrested for allegedly sending public money it received to North Korea.
The three, which agreed to requests by the government to have no ties with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), a pro-Pyongyang body, and to install Japanese as their presidents, are Mire Credit Union based in Osaka, Keiji Credit Union in Kyoto and Hyogo Himawari Credit Union in Kobe.
"I want board members, employees and members of the three credit unions to work hard to live up to their duties with a deep awareness of the importance of the injection of huge sums of public funds," Motoomi Iwaki, a Chogin Kinki financial administrator, said Monday.