Money Matter Still Dogs North Korean Standoff

North Korea continues to face roadblocks in collecting $25 million from a Macau bank, funds it has linked to its willingness to begin dismantling its nuclear weapons program, the Financial Times reported yesterday (see GSN, May 3).

Pyongyang pledged in February to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and to allow international inspectors back into the country by April 14.  However, it subsequently said it must first receive funds that had been frozen at the Banco Delta Asia.

Even after the United States said the money was available, North Korea has faced a number of obstacles consolidating its accounts at the bank, one senior U.S. official said.  Pyongyang apparently did not know the number of accounts and has had problems acquiring all the signatures needed for the money to be freed.

The money ultimately is to be transferred to accounts in Italy and Russia.

A U.S. official reaffirmed Washington’s willingness to be patient as the process continues.

“If we got to a point where North Korea was not trying to move the money, we would have to say, ‘What’s going on?’  But the Macanese authorities are saying there is a real effort to move the money,” the official told the newspaper (Sevastopulo/Fifield, Financial Times, May 3).

The Yonhap News Agency reported yesterday that the funds had been consolidated and that the transfer could occur by this weekend, according to Agence France-Presse.

“We hope the issue will be solved in the near future.  As yet we have no official information on when the funds will be released,” said a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, May 4).

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