As of late August, South Korea was owed over 600 billion won in loans to North Korea that have not yet been repayed.
This is according to data by the Export-Import Bank of Korea obtained by ruling People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seog. The data shows that the principal and interest plus compensation for delayed payments the North owes to the South stands at 617-point-three billion won.
According to Song, the Export-Import Bank sent loans of nearly one-point-three trillion won to the North between 2000 and 2007 under former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. A great majority of the funds related to food aid.
The lawmaker said Pyongyang's failure to pay back even the principal is problematic.
Urging repayment, the bank reportedly alerted the North's Foreign Trade Bank 76 times via mail and fax in the past ten years but the regime remains unresponsive.
Song said the previous Moon Jae-in government continued a subservient relationship with the North and called on the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration to actively demand that the loans be paid back by seeking such measures as asset seizure.