An international network of journalists said Tuesday that “quite a number of Korean names” are included in leaked data from tax havens, especially the British Virgin Islands.

“There are several dozen Korean names,” Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ, told Yonhap News Agency.

He added there are only South Koreans, no one from the North.

“I can confirm there are South Koreans only in the data. Nobody from North Korea. We know this because of the addresses attached to the names,” Ryle, an Australian reporter, said.

Earlier this month, the Washington-based ICIJ obtained some 2.5 million records detailing shell companies, offshore accounts and dubious financial deals. It contains the names of around 130,000 people who moved their money offshore apparently to evade taxes.

Ryle said his group is still working to analyze the data.

Korean people are hoping to see whether the leaked records include the names of high-profile politicians, government officials or celebrities.

“We do not know who these people are or if they are of public interest,” Ryle said.

He added the ICIJ is in the process of choosing a reporting partner for South Korea.

According to the ICIJ, South Korea’s tax agency had requested the organization to send the list of Koreans, but the organization rejected the proposal.

A National Tax Service official said its efforts to secure the list have made little progress because the ICIJ had cut contact with the tax agency.

In the NTS’ policy report to the National Assembly last week, NTS Commissioner Kim Duk-joong said the ICIJ had conveyed its position that it cannot give the list of names to government authorities.

(From news reports)