Posted on 05/04/2007 7:55:02 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
N Korea still to recover frozen $25m
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Anna Fifield in Seoul
Published: May 3 2007 18:38 | Last updated: May 3 2007 18:38
North Korea is having trouble recovering $25m (£12.5m) in previously frozen assets that are crucial to implementing the six-party deal towards denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
Almost three weeks since the agreed deadline for North Korea to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, Pyongyang still faces hurdles in obtaining the money from Macao’s Banco Delta Asia, which North Korea insisted be released as part of the nuclear accord reached in February.
A senior US official said Pyongyang had encountered several problems in consolidating all its accounts at BDA. In addition to not realising how many accounts it held at the bank, the official said North Korea appeared to be having difficulty getting the necessary signatures to release the funds.
Once Pyongyang had consolidated its accounts, officials said it could withdraw the money from BDA. South Korean and US officials confirmed that North Korea wanted to transfer the money to Italian and Russian bank accounts.
North Korea appears to believe that transferring the funds through the global banking system would signal it was acceptable to do business with Kim Jong-il’s regime again. Banks have been increasingly unwilling to process North Korean money transfers since the US accused BDA of facilitating alleged North Korean counterfeiting activities.
George W. Bush, US president, and Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, last week warned North Korea that their patience was not unlimited.
But a US official said the White House would be patient as long as there were signs that North Korea was attempting to recover its money, which Macanese authorities say is happening. “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,” said the official.
US claims that North Korea was involved in money laundering and counterfeiting led to several banks refusing to transact funds for Pyongyang.
A senior South Korean official said the process of getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons would only get more difficult. “The February agreement will be the easiest agreement to implement, and the BDA issue will be the easiest stumbling block to overcome,” he said.
Under the February agreement, South Korea was to provide the initial reward of 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. Seoul bought the oil in March and rented the ship to transport it to North Korea, but as the impasse dragged on, it has cancelled its order, incurring a penalty of about $4m.
They were also not keeping track of their accounts. They apparently had trouble figuring out how many accounts they actually have in BDA. Orginally they were said to have 36(or 32) accounts, but later found to have as many as 52. Figuring out how many accounts they have and the real owner of each account, and following required steps to get money out from it would pose quite a technical problem.
Essentially, they are breaking all kinds of elementary banking laws(or regulations.) Trying to make exceptions to such unlawful practices under international standard won't be easy.
Ping!
The North Koreans should call the Nigerians: They seem to know how to recover money from bank accounts in situations like this! LOL
So much over a measly $25 million.
Oprah sneezes that much over the course of a year.
Cheers!
The powers that be need to end.
OH CHIA PET IS ROANEY LOL!
I say pay them with enriched uranium.
With the proper fuzing and targeting of course.
Amazing. In international financial terms, $25M is nothing. There are NBA players that make more per year. There are many Formula 1 drivers that make much more.
But, 25m could buy Kim el (short one), much caviar and the best wines. Not to motion a new and updated Ipod.
The king’s cheese is half wasted in parings;
but no matter, ‘tis made of the people’s milk.
- Benjamin Franklin
You know a country of 23 million people is hurting when it is scrambling to get ahold of $25 million.
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