Free Republic

U.S. Treasury may have targeted N. Korea's gold sales In blacklisting a small Macau bank for accepting North Korean money based on allegations of illicit transactions, the U.S. Treasury may have been trying to block North Korea's gold sales. BY KEVIN G. HALL McClatchy News Service WASHINGTON -- An independent audit of a tiny bank in Macau found that the U.S. Treasury Department may have tried to blacklist Banco Delta Asia in an attempt to prevent North Korea from selling gold on the world market. The audit by international accountant Ernst & Young, obtained by McClatchy News Service, found that...

North Korea has reportedly agreed to halt nuclear activities including operations at a reactor in Yongbyon, and allow on-site monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency as the first steps to abandoning its nuclear program. The agreement came during a meeting of the chief nuclear negotiators of the U.S. and North Korea that ended Friday in Berlin, sources said. According to diplomatic sources in Seoul and Beijing, North Korea’s top nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan told his U.S. counterpart Christopher Hill that North Korea will yield in return for economic and energy aid from the U.S. and assurances that the...

A program of clandestine action against nuclear and missile traffic to North Korea and Iran is to be intensified after last week's missile tests by the Pyongyang regime. Intelligence agencies, navies and air forces from at least 13 nations are quietly co-operating in a secret war against Pyongyang and Tehran. It has so far involved interceptions of North Korean ships at sea, US agents prowling the waterfronts in Taiwan, multinational naval and air surveillance missions out of Singapore, investigators poring over the books of dubious banks in the former Portuguese colony of Macau and a fleet of planes and...

Seoul Fears U.S. Could Brand N.Korea a Financial Pariah Seoul is urgently studying its options in case Washington designates North Korea a “primary money-laundering concern” under its Patriot Act, a move that would create enormous difficulties for anyone doing business with the country and could deal a blow to growing inter-Korean trade. Government sources on Tuesday said Seoul is focused on the possibility that following the designation in December, 2002 of the Ukraine and the small Pacific island of Nauru as areas of "primary money-laundering concern," North Korea could be next in line for such a designation. (The designation of...

SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is responsible for spreading fake U.S. dollars through Macau, prompting Washington to slap sanctions on the communist country, a South Korean official said Sunday. The U.S. crackdown has not only intensified friction between the two former battlefield foes but also diminished chances for Kim's oldest son, Jong-nam, to succeed his father in a power struggle with his two younger brothers, the intelligence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We obtained intelligence that he got farther away from his father's mind due to the Macau...

Macau bank drops N Korean clients A Macau bank accused by the US of laundering money for North Korea has agreed to dissolve all links with the communist state. The US Treasury said Banco Delta Asia had acted as a "willing pawn" for North Korea to channel money through Macau. Macau's authorities took control of the bank last year after the fraud claims led to a run on its deposits. Officials said the bank would end ties with North Korean clients and tighten its anti-money laundering procedures. US pressure The US and North Korea are in dispute over the latter's...

South Korean bank joins US sanctions against North Korea 27 minutes ago Korea Exchange Bank, controlled by US equity fund Lone Star, has terminated all transactions with Banco Delta Asia, accused by Washington of laundering money for North Korea. The bank is the first South Korean financial institution to join US-imposed sanctions against the Macau-based bank. "We terminated all transactions with the Banco Delta, including remittance and foreign exchange dealings, on Wednesday" a bank spokeswoman told AFP. The decision was made to protect the interests of clients and the bank, she said. "This is a voluntary decision and there were...

In one of the strongest criticisms of North Korea yet by a U.S. official, Washington's top envoy to Seoul on Wednesday labeled the communist nation a criminal regime. Alexander Vershbow even likened North Korea's counterfeiting of U.S. bills with that of actions by the late German dictator Adolf Hitler. North Korea gave no immediate response to the verbal attack. "According to an observer, North Korea is the first regime that has done that since Adolf Hitler," the U.S. ambassador said in a breakfast meeting with senior journalists in Seoul. During World War II, Nazi Germany mass-produced counterfeit British pounds...

Monday September 19, 7:00 PM U.S. slap against bank stuns foreign business in N. Korea (Kyodo) _ A U.S. Treasury condemnation of the bank through which North Korea does most transactions with foreign companies could set back foreign trade with a country just beginning to open its markets, business people said Monday. The U.S. Department of the Treasury finding on Thursday that Macao-registered Banco Delta Asia SARL was a "primary money laundering concern" and proposal to ban U.S. financial institutions from doing business with it could freeze some U.S. dollar accounts or force foreign-North Korean transactions underground, they said. Companies...

Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 17 September 2005 1716 hrs Macau urges caution as US allegations spark run on North Korea-linked bank HONG KONG : Macau's political chief has moved to staunch a run on a bank accused by the United States of aiding illicit North Korean financial activity, fearing the scandal could wreck the city's banking sector. Chief Executive Edmund Ho urged caution amid a flurry of large withdrawals from Banco Delta Asia following allegations the lender had laundered money and helped North Korean customers distribute counterfeit US currency. "There is nothing to substantiate the rumours," Ho...