|
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon on Wednesday indicated an imminent breakthrough in the standoff over the transfer of North Korea's US$25 million from Banco Delta Asia in Macau. "Countries concerned, including North Korea are in the stage of making a final decision," Song told reporters. "But it's too early to say exactly when it will be resolved."
Asked if North Korean likes the solution, Song said, "It's not a matter of like it or not. I said the fund issue is now in its final stage of solution, in light of many consultations the countries concerned have had." He also hinted that South Korea will start the process of supplying the North with heavy fuel oil even before Pyongyang takes any concrete action under a Feb. 13 six-nation agreement to shut down its nuclear reactor. "There exists mutual trust that if the BDA issue is resolved, we will supply the North with heavy oil, and North Korea will dismantle its nuclear facilities and invite inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency¡± under the agreement, Song said. ¡°Based on that trust, we will not insist on what should be done first and what should come next."
 |
|
South Korea's Foreign Minister Song Min-soon speaks at a weekly briefing at the Ministry's main office in Seoul on Wednesday. Negotiations to transfer North Korean funds held at a Macau bank, central to the reclusive state moving on a nuclear disarmament deal, are in their final stages, South Korea's foreign minister said on Wednesday. /REUTERS
|
 |
|
Meanwhile, the chief South Korean negotiator at the six-party talks Chun Yung-woo, who is on a visit to Washington, on Tuesday also said a solution is ¡°in sight.¡±
In a meeting with South Korean correspondents in Washington, Chun said, "The BDA issue will be completely resolved once the North Korean funds are transferred to the accounts North Korea wants. But it will take a long time for North Korea to return to the international financial system."
A senior South Korean official said Chun and his delegation met American experts to discuss how an initiative similar to the Nunn-Lugar program might be applied to North Korea. In 1992, Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar sponsored legislation aimed at securing and dismantling the former Soviet Union's nuclear weapons in return for economic aid.
North Korea is apparently getting ready to make the transfer. Japan¡¯s Asahi Shimbun daily quoted a BDA staffer as saying two trade agents who have commercial ties with North Korea last week withdrew less than 1 million Hong Kong dollars from North Korea's US$25 million at the Macau bank. They changed all the rest of the money deposited in U.S. dollars, Hong Kong dollars, Japanese yen and euro into U.S. dollars by Monday, and re-deposited all the money in a single account at BDA held in the name of the Foreign Trade Bank of (North) Korea. ¡°When you transfer foreign currency internationally, you must transfer it through a bank of a country that mints the currency,¡± he said. ¡°North Korea has changed all the funds into U.S. dollars to transfer them via the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
