There are fears for the future of six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program as the relationship between the Stalinist country and the U.S. deteriorated after Washington slapped sanctions on a Macau-based bank for allegedly being the main funnel for the North ill-gotten gains. Some observers also worry about a resulting chill in inter-Korean relations.

Washington last week declined to negotiate on the sanctions it imposed on the bank and on North Korean firms, mainly fueled by suspicions that the North counterfeited U.S. currency. North Korea in response called off a visit by its deputy foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan, to New York.

On Friday night, North Korea’s foreign ministry said the U.S. must unfreeze the companies’ assets and lift the ban on transactions with the bank before the six-party talks can make progress. The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper the same day called the U.S. “the world’s worst human rights abuser.” It also slammed as a “fabrication” footage of a public execution in North Korea broadcast by cable channel CNN, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

A few hours after the statements, the U.S. chief negotiator at the talks Christopher Hill told AP, "We can't just sit there stalemated session after stalemated session.” He added, "I don't want to threaten walkouts, but I do want to see progress."

According to Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, North Korea has told the U.S. it will not return to the six-party talks until the sanctions are lifted. A South Korean official denied this, but the situation augurs ill for relations between the two Koreas. An inter-Korean ministerial meeting is scheduled for Dec. 13-16 in Jeju Island, and a South Korean official said he worried whether the meeting will take place at all, and whether it will run into problems if it does.

(englishnews@chosun.com )