Probe requested of US effort to free N. Korea funds

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) Six Republican lawmakers asked a government watchdog to investigate whether US efforts to help North Korea get back about 25 million dollars would violate money laundering and counterfeiting laws.

Until it gets the money, which is currently being held by Banco Delta Asia in Macao, North Korea has refused to carry out an agreement to shut down its reactor at Yongbyon as a first step toward giving up nuclear weapons.

The US Treasury designated Banco Delta Asia as a money-laundering concern in September 2005 and suggested it was a ''willing pawn'' in suspected North Korean counterfeiting, drug smuggling and other illegal activities.

The Republicans, led by Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, asked the Government Accountability Office yesterday to look into the matter after reports that a resolution may be at hand.

US officials have been trying to facilitate the payment of the money to North Korea and have grown more hopeful the matter may be settled following Russia's decision to step in to try to help arrange the transfer. Many international banks are afraid their reputations may be tainted if they handle the transfer.

The Republicans asked the GAO to study whether efforts by the State and Treasury Departments to resolve the matter were consistent with US laws and a UN Security Council resolution passed after North Korea conducted a nuclear test in October.

''We would also request that GAO evaluate whether all US official actions undertaken in connection with support for the transfer of North Korean funds held in Banco Delta Asia accounts are in keeping with the prohibitions regarding money laundering and counterfeiting as stipulated in the US Criminal Code,'' the group said in a letter to the agency.

In addition to Ros-Lehtinen, the letter was signed by Reps.

Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Dan Burton of Indiana, Edward Royce of California, Mike Pence of Indiana, and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had made clear from the start that they would act ''in strict accordance with the law and international regulations.'' Some conservatives have harshly criticized the Bush administration for striking the February 13 agreement under which North Korea would receive aid in exchange for beginning the process of giving up its nuclear weapons.

Reuters AKD VP0435