After political circles raised concerns that there may be legal issues because a "double contract" was drawn up in the course of Jeju Province's projects involving North Korea, the Ministry of Unification countered that it was a legal "three-party agreement" method.
On the 1st, an official at the Ministry of Unification said at Government Complex Seoul, in connection with an issue raised the previous day by People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won at the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget & Accounts, that "under the Enforcement Decree of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, three-party agreements are institutionally recognized."
Jeju Province, during the tenure of former Gov. Oh Young-hun, received approval from the Ministry of Unification between February and May this year to ship goods and sent hemodialysis machines, Hallabong seedlings, and pine wilt disease control chemicals to North Korea via China.
Na argued that Jeju Province drafted a "double contract" in the process. Citing that the contract submitted to the North lists a Chinese operator as the party providing support and that Jeju Province is not a contracting party, she said the Ministry of Unification should cancel approval for the North Korea-related project.
The Ministry of Unification's position is that this cannot be viewed as a "double contract." A ministry official said, "Rather than a double contract, under an A-B-C three-party agreement, there are (a total of) two agreements—one between A and B, and another between B and C," adding, "The Ministry of Unification approved the project Jeju Province pursued with its own funds in accordance with relevant laws."
The official added that "the three-party agreement method for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation was introduced in 2009" and "has been used frequently since 2019, when the North changed its position to not accept support from the South."
The Ministry of Unification added that while it is true the goods sent by Jeju Province were delivered to North Korea, it is still waiting because it has not yet secured the final "handover receipt."