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The U.S. Treasury Department says its ongoing financial sanctions against North Korea put "huge pressure" on the regime that could have a "snowballing ... avalanche effect." Under Secretary Stuart Levy was quoted in the latest edition of Newsweek, which analyzed the possible effect on the regime from Washington¡¯s identification of the Banco Delta Asia in Macau as Pyongyang¡¯s ¡°primary money-laundering concern¡± and other financial sanctions last September.
"In today's interconnected financial world, an official U.S. move to blacklist a foreign bank would be the kiss of death, since any financial institution doing business in dollars needs to hold accounts in correspondent U.S. banks in order to complete transactions," the weekly said. "Washington has finally found a strategy that is putting real pressure on the regime -- going after its sources of cash, all across the world."
It said whether "squeezing¡± North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will compel him to abandon his nuclear ambitions remains to be seen, but added U.S. officials believe that such ¡°targeted sanctions¡± are highly effective. "From what we've seen, this has been affecting the North Korean elite in particular," it quoted an expert as saying. According to a U.S. government document Newsweek says it obtained, Kim is reported to have told Chinese President Hu Jintao during a visit to China in January that his regime might collapse due to the U.S. crackdown on its financial transactions.
¡°The U.S. decision to ratchet up the pressure on North Korea's illicit activities was taken shortly after George W. Bush was first elected,¡± the magazine said. ¡°Numerous U.S. government agencies, including the FBI, Treasury, State Department and CIA, have been working for three years to curtail Pyongyang's vast network of black-market activities¡± and ¡°to cut off the financial conduits by which the proceeds are laundered.¡±
North Korea complains the sanctions imposed by the U.S. made its legitimate financial transactions impossible, and is boycotting six-party talks on its nuclear program as a result. But the magazine quoted Levy of the Treasury Department as saying, ¡°"You can't negotiate on crime." He added, "We're just starting."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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