Hill Snubs N.Korea’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator In N.K. Diplomacy, Seoul Rushes in Where Others Fear to Tread N.Korea’s Nuke Negotiator Digs In After Snub from U.S.

The money is less than 1 percent of North Korea’s annual budget by the official exchange rate. The Supreme People's Assembly of (North) Korea disclosed that the nation’s budget for this year will be 419.7 billion North Korean won, more than $2.93 billion according to the North’s official exchange rate. The U.S. chief delegate to the talks Christopher Hill on Thursday agreed it is difficult to understand why the North is making an issue out of the amount, which he said was less than one week’s worth of the energy offered to Pyongyang in the six-party negotiations.

But in the North’s black market, $1 buys some 3,000 North Korean won, more than 20 times the official rate. That makes $24 million something nearer 20 percent of North Korea’s annual budget.

Still, North Korea experts say there are other reasons for the demand besides the money itself. Paik Hak-soon, the head of the Sejong Center for North Korean Studies, said Pyongyang apparently wants to take advantage of the situation to stop a certain pattern of behavior the U.S. has shown of pressuring the nation even while engaging in dialogue with it. Kim Kye-gwan, too, said the people of North Korea were “resisting” pressure given the impression that the U.S. interpreted North Korea’s agreement last September to dismantle its nuclear weapons as a “weakness.”

Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia in Washington on Wednesday reported that Macau, which has a reputation as a haven for North Korean money-laundering activities, will see a new anti-money laundering bill go into effect in October. The territory’s legislature passed the bill to prevent money laundering and aiding terrorist activities on March 23.

Macau promised to freeze the North’s accounts and take measures to prevent illegal financial transactions after the U.S. slapped financial sanctions on Banco Delta Asia last September.

(englishnews@chosun.com )