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North Korea has left untouched US$25 million unfrozen in a Macau bank and offered no statement Monday after missing a Saturday deadline to shut down its nuclear facilities under a Feb. 13 six-nation agreement. Experts differ about the reason for Pyongyang¡¯s reticence.
Some pundits expect the North to demand a foreign currency transaction account, which it is effectively denied under U.S. financial sanctions. Prof. Kim Hak-sung of Chungnam National University points out that the Stalinist regime cannot transfer the assets from the Banco Delta Asia to a bank in a third country; it can only withdraw the money in cash. He predicted the North will keep demanding the use of a legal account but eventually accept the U.S. solution.
Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the Graduate School of North Korean Studies in Kyungnam University, said Pyongyang will withdraw the money once it can be sure the U.S. will take no action against any third-country bank that receives the funds. Some speculate the North is trying to ascertain whether it can now safely withdraw or transfer the money, despite the fact that the U.S. Treasury Department on March 14 determined some of the funds were illegal and BDA a money-laundering channel.
Others point out that North Korea is busy celebrating the 95th birthday of the country¡¯s late founder Kim Il-sung on April 15 and preparing massive celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the People's Armed Forces, which falls on April 25. Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea specialist at Korea University, said Pyongyang will likely start shutting down the nuclear facilities once it has cemented public support with the celebrations and the Arirang mass calisthenics event. Nam predicts that will be in mid-May.
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A staffer stands guard as an armored truck arrives in front of the Banco Delta Asia in Macao on April 13, where North Korea is expected to withdraw money from its recently unblocked accounts.
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Then there is the conspiracy theory. It says North Korea is trying to please China, deliberately procrastinating because Beijing is miffed that the U.S. in September 2005 publicly fingered the Chinese bank as a money launderer. Sensing China¡¯s displeasure, the theory goes, North Korea intentionally complicated the situation.
Meanwhile, the battered bank on Monday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. designation as a money launderer. In a statement, BDA¡¯s legal advisor, the New York law firm Heller Ehrman LLP, said the Treasury¡¯s accusation ¡°lacked specific facts¡± and ¡°was politically motivated because it was based on disputes between the United States and North Korea.¡±
A senior source in Macao said North Korea submitted the documents necessary to withdraw the money last week and can take back the funds anytime. But Macanese authorities, with the understanding of the North, have been calling on the U.S. to lift all sanctions on the bank.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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