Uri Party lawmaker Sun Byong-ryul quoted Kim as saying an agreement reached in six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program on Feb. 13 reconfirmed a statement of principles of September 2005 and therefore includes North Korea’s uranium enrichment program, which would be discussed in follow-up working groups. He made the remark in response to a question if the agreement deals with the uranium program. According to the U.S., North Korea in 2002 admitted to having such a program but later denied it, causing the second nuclear crisis.

During a visit to Korea, former U.S. defense secretary William Perry told reporters Tuesday that the uranium enrichment program issue could yet lead to the collapse of nuclear negotiations. The defense chief of the Clinton administration during the first North Korean nuclear crisis in 1994, Perry said the Beijing agreement was a small step on a very long road toward making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free. Ultimately, the success of the agreement was up to whether North Korea is sincere in scrapping its nuclear program, and the North’s sincerity has not been tested, he added.

Meanwhile, the NIS said North Korea enacted an anti-money laundering law in late October last year. According to the NIS, Pyongyang’s anti-money laundering system meets the international financial standard and was enacted after the U.S. froze North Korean accounts with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia in September 2005. The law defines money laundering as a crime and bans all activities to set up illegal funds through foreign currency counterfeiting and sale of drug and weapons. The NIS dismissed rumors of the confinement of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, a massive exodus of political prisoners and a military drill to quell a coup, saying there had been no unusual activities detected in the North.

(englishnews@chosun.com )