U.S., N. Korea Resolve Dispute On Frozen Funds
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BEIJING — America and North Korea have resolved a dispute over $25 million in frozen North Korean funds in a Macau bank that had threatened to hold up nuclear disarmament negotiations, a top American official said today.
Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser said the funds would be transferred to a Bank of China account in Beijing to be used for education and humanitarian purposes in North Korea.
The North Korean deposits have been frozen in the Banco Delta Asia since Washington blacklisted the tiny, privately run Macau-based bank 19 months ago on suspicion the funds were connected to money-laundering or counterfeiting.
Washington promised to resolve the issue by mid-March as part of an agreement last month on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. On Saturday, North Korea’s nuclear envoy said Pyongyang would not shut down its main nuclear reactor until the funds were released.
“We believe this resolves the issue of the DPRK-related frozen funds,” Mr. Glaser said using the acronym for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The American nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, said the six-party talks — which are scheduled to resume today — could now “move on to the next problem of which there are many.”
