The U.N. Development Program says that seven of its nine international staff in Pyongyang will leave North Korea by March 17 following its suspension of operations on March 1.
The agency halted operations because North Korea failed to meet conditions set by its board following U.S. allegations that U.N. aid money was being perted to Kim Jong Il's regime. In response to the allegations, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ordered an external audit of all U.N. operations in North Korea which began Monday.
UNDP said Monday that it would leave two international staff members, the deputy resident representative and the operations manager, in North Korea to support the independent external audit. It is also putting in place measures in Pyongyang for safekeeping of records to ensure that they can be made available to the auditors.
Most of the 22 national staff will also stop working by March 15 but UNDP said it asked four staff members to remain and assist its two staffers remaining in Pyongyang.
In January, the United States accused UNDP of funneling millions of dollars in hard currency to North Korea with little assurance that Kim Jong Il used the money to help his people instead of perting it to "illicit purposes" including developing nuclear weapons.
UNDP said the use of hard currency for its operations in North Korea "in difficult circumstances" was approved by its executive board and it would welcome an external audit.
But UNDP's executive board decided on Jan. 25 that the agency would only continue operations in North Korea if several conditions could be met by March 1.
Those included that UNDP would no longer pay North Korean staff in hard currency, no longer employ North Koreans loaned from government agencies, and refocus its programs to benefit the North Korean people rather than build the capacity of the goverment.
David Morrison, the chief spokesman for UNDP, said a North Korean delegation wanted to reopen the conditions on March 1, but the agency considered them non-negotiable so it suspended operations.
He said Monday that UNDP has not heard anything further from the North about meeting the conditions.
The suspension is the first in memory for the U.N. agency and affects 20 projects with a budget of $4.4 million (€3.36 million), including helping the North deal with food security, biopersity and economic management, Morrison said earlier this month.
Source: Intrnational Herald Tribune