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Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Tuesday dodged the question on everyone¡¯s mind during a meeting with foreign reporters in Seoul: whether the South Korean government believes North Korea is counterfeiting U.S. dollars.
"The government is very concerned over the North Korean counterfeiting issue and continues to analyze and appraise pertinent information,¡± Chung said when the question came up. When his interlocutors insisted, Chung merely repeated the statement.
Seoul has apparently decided not to comment on the U.S. claim that North Korea has been engaged in massive counterfeiting of U.S. dollars until Chinese or Macau authorities make the results of their investigation in the matter public. It seems to prefer that approach to alienating Washington further by saying more evidence is needed, as it has so far done.
¡°Besides currency counterfeiting and drug trafficking, there are six so-called pending issues, including missile programs and human rights, that stand in the way of normalizing relations between the U.S. and the North,¡± the minister said. If the six-party talks on the nuclear dispute ¡°collapse whenever one of these issues arises, it will be impossible to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, so our government maintains the position that such bilateral issues should be kept separate from the six-party talks.¡±
Asked about U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow¡¯s recent description of Pyongyang as a ¡°criminal regime,¡± the minister said, ¡°I think many have questioned whether his remarks, which came at a critical stage in talks over the fate of the Korean Peninsula, were appropriate.¡± But he offered a relatively mild rebuke adding, ¡°I hope the ambassador sees the big picture and focuses on essentials in resolving the nuclear crisis and establishing peace on the peninsula.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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