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N.Korea: won't return to six-party talks until sanctions stop
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-03-09 09:57
North Korea will not return to nuclear disarmament talks despite having met
with US officials to discuss allegations of illegal financial activities, a
Pyongyang diplomat has been quoted as saying.
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| Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador to bilateral discussions with
Japan, talks to journalists at a Beijing hotel in this November 4, 2005
file photo. He said on February 8, 2006 that his country would only return
to six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions if the United States drops
financial sanctions against it. [Reuters] |
"We have a consistent position not to return to the talks in the midst of the
continued pressure," said Ri Gun, director general of North Korea's foreign
ministry, referring to Washington's crackdown on Pyongyang's alledged money
laundering operations.
He was speaking after meeting with US officials in New York on Tuesday to
discuss Washington's assertion that North Korea had used a Macau bank as a front
for money laundering, Yonhap news agency said.
Yonhap quoted Ri as saying that he had presented the meeting with ways to
resolve the dispute and was awaiting Washington's response.
"Today, the DPRK (North Korea) and the US had enough dialogue on mutual
interests and concerns. We got to know each other's position and confirmed
differences once again," he was quoted as saying.
"We're not at the meeting to be interrogated. It was a place where both sides
explained their respective policy positions."
Daniel Glaser, the US Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for terrorist
financing and financial crimes, said the US side briefed the North Koreans on
the action taken against Macau-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA) and measures to
protect the US financial system from illicit activities.
"BDA was designated because its facilitation of North Korean illicit
financial activity presents an unacceptable risk to the US financial system,"
Glaster said.
"The Treasury Department will continue to take action as necessary to protect
against threats to our financial system and our institutions," he said.
Ri, who also serves as North Korea's deputy chief delegate to six-party talks
on ending the country's nuclear weapons drive, said the future of those talks
would depend on Washington's response to Pyongyang's position.
Pyongyang has denied US claims that the Stalinist state was counterfeiting
dollars to finance its nuclear ambitions.
The United States believes BDA helped Pyongyang launder earnings from
counterfeiting US bank notes, trafficking narcotics, smuggling contraband
cigarettes and other illegal activities.
The US Treasury Department in September told US financial institutions to
stop dealings BDA. A month later the US blacklisted eight North Korean companies
allegedly involved in the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
North Korea has insisted that Washington lift the sanctions for any
resumption of the stalled six-party talks that have been held for the last two
years among the United States, the two Koreas, Russia, China and
Japan.
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