U.S. Seeking Own Financial Sanctions on N. Korea Separately From U.N
Yonhap
06/06/2009
"The steps we've taken in the past in the banking sector, you know, certainly did get North Korea's attention previously. And if we find ways that we can do that, we will do so," said Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, in a daily news briefing.
Crowley was discussing the financial sanctions Washington slapped on a Macau bank in 2005 to freeze US$25 million worth of North Korean assets to effectively cut off North Korea's access to the international financial system. Banco Delta Asia had been accused of helping North Korea launder money from circulating sophisticated counterfeit US$100 bills called "supernotes."
The remarks come amid a flurry of diplomacy under way at the U.N. Security Council and Asian capitals to sanction North Korea financially for its second nuclear test in nearly three years to pressure the reclusive communist state to return to six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is coming home from a weeklong trip to Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo to seek support for general arms and financial embargoes aimed at shutting down North Korea's main source of hard currency income and access to foreign financial institutions.
U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey, who played a central role in the BDA sanctions, is accompanying Steinberg in light of recent findings that North Korea circulated about $US1 million worth of supernotes at a South Korean port late last year.
Crowley, however, made it clear that the focus will be on sanctioning North Korea multilaterally through the Security Council.
"We're looking at what steps that we can take, principally in collaboration with others in the six-party process," he said. "We will continue to use, you know, whatever levers that we see available and we think will be effective, but our ultimate objective is to get back to negotiations and to start to once again make progress on the commitments that North Korea has made previously."
North Korea has threatened to boycott the six-party talks, demanding the security council apologize its rebuke for the April 5 rocket launch, which Pyongyang said was to orbit a satellite.
In defiance of the international condemnation, North Korea detonated its second nuclear device early last week, fired several missiles and threatened to nullify the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War unless the U.S. ceases what it calls hostile behavior.
The provocations are widely seen as an attempt by ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il] to help his third and youngest son, Jong-un, to consolidate power in an unprecedented third generation dynastic power transfer.
In fragile health after an apparent stroke last summer, Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il] officially anointed Jong-un as his successor soon after the latest nuclear test.
Talk is rife on Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il]'s true intentions, with some saying Pyongyang will return to the negotiating table with the U.S. either bilaterally or multilaterally, while others are pessimistic about Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear arsenal.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, is key to effective implementation of any sanctions on North Korea, heavily dependent on its communist neighbor in energy, food and other necessities.
Crowley dismissed concerns that Beijing is lukewarm to any strong sanctions on North Korea for fear of undermining its influence.
"There has been strong unanimity within the United Nations that there will be a resolution," he said. "We're working assiduously on what form that resolution will take place. Progress is being made in negotiations that we have ongoing in New York."
China and Russia, veto powers on the council, thwarted the effort by the U.S. and its allies in April to adopt a legally binding resolution on North Korea's rocket launch, resulting in a largely symbolic council presidential statement.
They demanded any sanctions be conducive to coaxing the reclusive North into getting back to the multilateral nuclear disarmament talks.
Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the council, plus South Korea and Japan, are expected to meet at the U.N. headquarters in New York later in the day to discuss drafting a resolution.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan [Yu Myo'ng-hwan] said in New York Thursday that he expects an agreement by the weekend.
"China and Russia oppose bolstering interdiction of vessels, citing possible violations of international law," Yu said. "It might be a bit easy for us to agree to financial sanctions as it is about a technical issue of what entities to sanction."
Yu will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later in the day in Washington to discuss how to deal with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions and also preparations for a summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak [Yi Myo'ng-pak] and U.S. President Barack Obama on June 16.
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Clinton says U.S. mulls putting North Korea back on terror list
Reuters
06/07/2009
WASHINGTON -- The United States is looking into putting North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism in response to its nuclear test last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview on Sunday.
"We're going to look at it. There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism," she said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
Asked whether she had evidence of the North's support for international terrorism, Clinton said: "We're just beginning to look at it. I don't have an answer for you right now."
The United States removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist in October in a bid to revive faltering six-nation denuclearization talks that have completely broken down.
The impoverished Communist-ruled Asian nation was taken off the list after agreeing to a series of verification measures at its nuclear facilities. It has been condemned internationally since its defiant May 25 nuclear test.
"Obviously they were taken off of the list for a purpose, and that purpose is being thwarted by their actions," Clinton said.
Coming off the list meant North Korea could better tap into international finance and see some trade sanctions lifted -- benefits that would be reversed, although other sanctions have remained as a result of its first nuclear test in 2006.
SUPPORT FROM RUSSIA AND CHINA
Clinton said she expected a strong sanctions resolution against North Korea to emerge from the U.N. Security Council, with the backing of China and Russia, which previously balked at such measures and hold veto powers on the council.
"I think what is going somewhere is additional sanctions in the United Nations -- arms embargo, other measures taken against North Korea with the full support of China and Russia," she said in reference to the ongoing U.N. deliberations.
Clinton said the United States would work hard to cut off the flow of money to North Korea.
"And so part of what we're doing is again, sharing with other countries our calculus of the risks and the dangers that would lie ahead if we don't take very strong action."
Renewed tensions over North Korea's nuclear program coincide with the trial in recent days of two U.S. female journalists held in Pyongyang.
Analysts say the pair, who were working for the Current TV network co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, have become bargaining chips in negotiations with the United States.
Clinton appealed to the North to free the two women, saying their case was a humanitarian issue and must be viewed separately from the nuclear dossier.
"We think that the charges against these young women are absolutely without merit or foundation. We hope the trial ends quickly, it's resolved and they're sent home."
Clinton also said she was following very closely reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has signaled the appointment of his youngest son as heir to the country's ruling family dynasty.
Koreas to meet on Gaeseong next week
Korea Herald
06/06/2009
By Kim So-hyun
The two Koreas will meet next Thursday at the North Korean border city of Gaeseong to discuss issues regarding the operation of the joint industrial park there, the Unification Ministry said yesterday.
The meeting comes amid heightening tension caused by the North's nuclear test, missile firings and warnings that it is ready to strike the South.
"North Korea's Central Special Zone Development Guidance General Bureau has proposed to hold working-level talks on the joint industrial park in Gaeseong with South Korean government officials on June 11 at 10 a.m.," said ministry spokesperson Chun Hae-sung in a press briefing.
"(The North's proposal) was in response to our suggestion on May 19. We sent a reply today agreeing to the proposal."
The agreement for talks, a follow-up to the April 21 bilateral meeting in Gaeseong, came after more than six weeks of tug-of-war as the two sides refused to budge on the agenda.
Following North Korea's demand for negotiations on wage hikes and land lease contract revisions in Gaeseong, South Korea had suggested the follow-up talks three times, the last one made on May 19.
At the first government-level meeting in more than a year on April 21, the North had refused to discuss Seoul's major concern - the fate of a South Korean worker detained in Gaeseong since March 30.
"Our topmost priority has been the safety of our citizens, and we believe North Korea acknowledges this," Chun said yesterday, adding that the agenda had not been specified.
The Hyundai Asan Corp. employee, named Yoo Sung-jin, was arrested on March 30 on charges of criticizing the North's political system and encouraging a female North Korean to defect to the South, and has been denied access to South Korean officials since.
On May 15, Pyongyang declared invalid all inter-Korean contracts regarding the joint venture in Gaeseong and vowed to unilaterally raise wages, land usage fees and taxes, while accusing Seoul of being "confrontational."
South Korean firms that cannot accept the new terms should leave, it said.
Seoul has reiterated several times that it was not considering closing the Gaeseong industrial complex despite the North's unilateral decision to scrap wage and land lease contracts there.
At the 20-minute bilateral meeting on April 21, Pyongyang complained that wages South Korean firms pay North Korean employees in the Gaeseong park are too low and should be increased, and demanded the two sides meet again.
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