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Seoul setting up fund for financing possible unification of two Koreas

The initial cost of integration of the North and the South can amount to 47-216 billion dollars

SEOUL, August 7 (Itar-Tass) —— The Republic of Korea is setting up a special fund for financial ensuring of two Koreas’ possible integration in future, the Ministry of Unification reported on Tuesday on the results of a meeting of the cabinet of ministers which approved an envisaged bill regarding the problem of inter-Korean unification.

“This document envisages, in particular, the division of the money of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund into two accounts. One of them will be intended for developing cooperation of the North and the South through the border dividing them, and another - - for covering the cost of the two Koreas’ unification process,” the ministry specified.

According to an estimate of the Korean National Unification Institute, the initial cost of integration of the North and the South can amount to 47-216 billion dollars.

The bill will come into force if it is approved by deputies of the one-chamber National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. The document, as the ministry stressed, will be submitted for parliamentarians’ consideration this month.

Over the last months, President Lee Myung-bak of the country often spoke about the fact that “with account of the present situation, I believe that the unification is close already.”

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan