NKorea seeks US bank account for funds: Report

Tokyo, May 6: North Korea has demanded the United States to allow it to open an account at a bank in New York and its funds at a Macau bank be transfered there, a Japanese daily reported in today Quoting an unspecified source in Washington linked to relations between the United States and North Korea, the Mainichi newspaper said the United States had rejected Pyongyang's demand.

Under the Feb. 13 agreement by the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, North Korea had 60 days to shut down its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid.

But Pyongyang missed the deadline and insisted that it must first have access to millions of dollars in accounts at Macau's Banco Delta Asia that were frozen after the United States accused the bank of being involved in money laundering.

''The United States hurt the credibility of North Korea by imposing financial sanctions. The United States must correct this,'' the source quoted an unnamed North Korean official as saying, according to the Japanese daily.

''We can prove to the international community the funds are clean by transfering them to a bank in the United States.'' North Korea was believed to have made the demands when the Bush administration's top Korea expert, Victor Cha, contacted North Korean representatives at the United Nations on April 24, the Mainichi newspaper said.

Japanese media quoted Foreign Minister Taro Aso as saying on Friday that six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programme could resume as early as next week as Washington expected a resolution of the row over the North Korean funds.

Reuters>