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In a strange reversal of fortunes, the U.S. Treasury Department is now busy trying to free North Korean assets in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia it had earlier made great efforts to freeze. The Treasury froze the US$25 million after fingering them as gains from money counterfeiting and drug deals in September 2005. That derailed six-nation nuclear talks for 13 months, until the U.S. finally agreed, in January this year, to unfreeze the funds.
On Sunday, U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser flew to Beijing, one week after his last visit on March 18, when he had read a statement in effect releasing the money. But the release hit a snag when the Bank of China refused to touch the money, which prompted North Korea again to boycott the talks until it has the funds in hand. Now Glaser is in Beijing again to negotiate with China to make sure Pyongyang gets them.
Observers speculate that Glaser will guarantee the Chinese bank and any banks in a third country that will handle the money that there will be no problem if they receive the North Korean funds. Only last July, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey toured South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore with evidence to make sure the money remained frozen, sending banks worldwide a sign that they should halt transactions with North Korea. Vietnamese and Singaporean banks complied.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Saturday, Prof. David Kang of Dartmouth College predicted that the Bush administration will not block North Korea¡¯s legal financial activities. Meanwhile, after the Bank of China¡¯s refusal, North Korea is reportedly contacting Russian, Vietnamese and Mongolian banks about the money transfer.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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