The Luxembourg government is reportedly denying that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a four-billion-dollar “emergency fund” hidden in secret accounts in European banks.

Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun said Friday that the Luxembourg government does not even feel the need to investigate whether such a secret fund exists.

Earlier on Monday, Britain’s Daily Telegraph quoted South Korean intelligence officials as saying that that much of the money is likely to have been transferred to banks in Luxembourg from Swiss banks after Swiss authorities began to tighten regulations on money laundering.