US wants to move past bank issue in Korea talks

Beijing, Mar 18: The US envoy to talks on North Korea's nuclear programme said today he wants to move past a spat over Pyongyang's frozen bank accounts and concentrate on pushing the de-nuclearisation issue forward.

Chris Hill said he was confident the North Koreans now had a better understanding of the US position on Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA), which the US Treasury Department accused of harbouring illegal North Korean earnings.

The Treasury on Wednesday formally banned US banks doing business with BDA, ending its inquiry and opening the way for Macau, a self-administered enclave under indirect Chinese control, to free North Korean accounts found to be above board.

''This BDA issue has been a tough issue for the last 18 months but I'm pretty confident it's not going to be a problem as we go forward,'' Hill told reporters before leaving to meet China's chief negotiator, Wu Dawei.

''We've resolved it from our point of view and now we have to explain it to everyone's satisfaction,'' said Hill, who met the North Koreans yesterday.

''We had the sense that they understand the position much better,'' he added of the talks with the North Koreans.

''The real issue ... is to get to the next stage of disablement and declaration, those issues. I think those will be the real focus of what we're doing today,'' Hill said.

Curbs Lifted

Pyongyang's envoy Kim Kye-gwan yesterday warned it would not shut the nuclear plant until the United States lifted banking curbs.

The long-running six-party talks reached a breakthrough accord on February 13 giving North Korea 60 days to shut Yongbyon in return for aid and security pledges.

The next round of talks -- which also includes Japan, South Korea, China and Russia -- open in Beijing tomorrow.

Hill added they would like to set up a committee to look at the thorny issue of highly enriched uranium.

The US. asserts North Korea has been trying to enrich uranium to make nuclear weapons.

The Bush administration's allegations about the programme in 2002 caused a 1994 US-North Korea nuclear agreement to unravel.

After that, Pyongyang produced enough plutonium for several atomic weapons and conducted its first nuclear test.

''The HEU issue is not just our issue. Other delegations have also been very concerned about it,'' Hill said.

The North's Kim yesterday said Pyongyang was willing to cooperate.

''If they present evidence, we will explain it to them,'' Kim said, without elaborating.

After reaching the nuclear deal in February, the United States has acknowledged gaps in its intelligence about whether the North had the technology and material needed to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons.

Reuters

Related Stories