Money May Underlie North Korea's Return to Talks
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's decision to reopen nuclear-disarmament talks may have simply come down to money.
During nearly seven hours of talks with U.S. and Chinese diplomats Tuesday, North Korean officials repeatedly asked that a restart of the six-nation talks include a discussion of the financial straitjacket imposed on the impoverished country and its dictatorial regime. It was the North's sole request, the U.S. envoy to the talks said, and an indicator of the pressure the country is facing after being practically cut off from the world's banking system.
Yesterday, the North Korean government raised the matter again in its own announcement about the talks, saying it decided to return to negotiations "on the premise that the issue of lifting financial sanctions will be discussed and settled." The statement, issued by North Korea's foreign ministry, characterized its Oct. 9 nuclear test as "a self-defensive countermeasure against the U.S. daily increasing nuclear threat and financial sanctions against it."
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? Standoff With North Korea: Chronology of key events
North Korea's banking woes are due not to direct financial sanctions but instead to decisions by foreign banks that feared continuing business with North Korea. The foreign banks suspended their ties with North Korea following the U.S.'s move to blacklist a Macau bank that did business with Pyongyang. It is unclear whether the U.S. can do something in the six-party talks to change North Korea's financial isolation.
U.S. diplomats are likely to create a special working group within the six-nation talks, which North Korea had been boycotting for a year, to discuss financial issues. "Of course, addressing it will require the cooperation" of North Korea, said Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the talks. He noted North Korea is suspected of engaging in money laundering and counterfeiting of U.S. dollars. The other parties involved in the talks are Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
North Korea's financial troubles have arisen in part because of steps it began taking in 2002 to introduce market changes to its centrally planned economy. These included greater use of international banks for borrowing, investing and trade. The isolated regime of dictator Kim Jong Il apparently didn't realize such steps would ultimately provide outsiders with another means to pressure the country.
"The alarming thing for North Korea was to find that any assets they held around the world were liable to be frozen" if it was accused of criminal activities, said Tony Michell, managing director of Korea Associates Business Consultancy in Seoul and co-founder of the first international business-consulting company in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.
The inability to conduct international banking "has made it extremely difficult for ordinary businesses to send money to North Korea and to receive money from North Korea," Mr. Michell added.
The trouble began in September 2005 when the U.S. put Banco Delta Asia in Macau, China, on a blacklist -- which essentially banned U.S. financial institutions from doing transactions with the bank -- for allegedly assisting North Korea in money laundering. That action created a run on the bank, a criminal investigation by Macau and a freeze of 40 North Korea accounts with assets of about $24 million.
Banco Delta Asia, which has since folded, has called the U.S. allegations "totally unfounded," and bank executives say they alerted U.S. officials of one instance in which counterfeit U.S. currency was put into a North Korean account. Macau's policy and bank regulator have been investigating the case since then.
North Korea immediately called for its money to be unfrozen. Nine of the accounts belonged to individual North Koreans, including some people believed to be high-ranking officials in the Kim regime. The remaining accounts belonged to 20 North Korean banks and 11 trading companies.
A bigger problem soon developed, as other foreign banks that were North Korea's chief conduit to the global banking system cut the country off, worried that a mere threat of U.S. penalties would cripple them, too. Officials at four Chinese commercial banks stopped moving funds in or out of North Korea after last month's nuclear test. Those banks said yesterday they were continuing that restriction.
North Korean authorities have for months repeatedly called for an end to the virtual cutoff from global banking, but they have never described the financial effects of the freeze. The country's banks disclose no information, not even their size or asset base. The only foreign-owned bank in North Korea, Daedong Credit Bank, reported in April that its revenue had been cut in half as a result of the inability to transact with banks outside the country. A Hong Kong investment company owns 70% of the bank, while a North Korean bank owns the rest.
金融重压促使朝鲜重返六方会谈
朝鲜出人意料地决定重返六方会谈显然应归结于经济原因。
在周二与美国和中国代表进行的近7个小时会谈中，朝鲜代表多次要求重新启动的六方会谈必须讨论对朝鲜的金融制裁问题。参加会谈的美国特使称，这是朝鲜的唯一要求，也显示出在与全球银行体系的联系基本被切断后，朝鲜面临的巨大压力。
相关报导
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? 朝鲜核试验令中国左右为难
周三，朝鲜政府在声明中称，朝鲜决定重返六方会谈，前提是会谈将讨论和解决解除金融制裁的问题。朝鲜外交部发表的声明还表示，10月9日的核试验是针对美国日益增大的对朝鲜的核威胁和金融制裁而采取的自卫性反制裁措施。
朝鲜银行业面临的困境并非由于直接的金融制裁，而是外国银行出于对继续同朝鲜开展业务的担心而做出的决定。在美国将一家同朝鲜存在业务往来的澳门银行列入黑名单后，外国银行都暂停了同朝鲜的联系。尚不清楚美国是否会在六方会谈中采取一些措施改变朝鲜的金融隔离状态。
美国可能会在六方会谈中成立一个特别工作组讨论金融问题。美国参与此次会谈的特使克里斯托弗?希尔(Christopher Hill)说，当然，解决这个问题需要朝鲜方面的合作。他指出，朝鲜被怀疑参与了洗钱和伪造美元的活动。六方会谈的其余几方为俄罗斯、中国、日本和韩国。由于朝鲜的抵制，六方会谈已经中断了一年。
朝鲜的金融困境在某种程度上来自于2002年开始采取的引入市场机制的做法。这包括更广泛地使用外国银行来进行贷款、投资和贸易。朝鲜政权显然没有意识到，此举最终成为其它国家对其施压的一个手段。
Korea Associates Business Consultancy驻首尔的董事总经理托尼?米切尔(Tony Michell)说，令朝鲜感到担忧的是，它发现如果自己被指责从事了违法活动，其在全球各地的资产都有可能被冻结。米切尔与他人共同创办了这家全球首个设在平壤的国际商业咨询机构。
米切尔说，不能开展跨国银行业务使朝鲜普通的资金出入境业务都陷入了极端困难的境地。
这场麻烦源于2005年9月，当时美国将中国澳门的汇业银行(Banco Delta Asia)列入了黑名单，禁止美国金融机构同该行开展业务，原因是这家银行被指控协助朝鲜从事洗钱活动。这导致澳门当局对汇业银行展开了刑事调查，以及朝鲜方面在该行开立的40个账户被冻结，这些帐户中约有资金2,400万美元。汇业银行此后受到了挤提。该行称美国的指责是毫无根据的，并表示曾在发现向一个朝鲜账户存入美元伪钞后向美方举报。澳门的政策和银行监管部门一直在调查此案。
朝鲜方面立刻要求解冻这部分资金。在这些被冻结帐户中有9个属于朝鲜的个人，这些人中有些被认为是金正日(Kim Jong Il)政权的高级官员。其余账户属于朝鲜的20家银行和11家贸易公司。
但更严重的问题接踵而至，曾经是朝鲜通往全球银行体系主要管道的其余外国银行由于担心美国的制裁威胁会损害其利益，也中断了同朝鲜的往来。中国4家商业银行的管理人员最近表示，它们已停止了同朝鲜的资金往来。
朝鲜政府几个月来一直要求结束与国际银行业的隔离状态，但却从未谈及冻结资金往来对其产生的金融影响。朝鲜的银行不披露信息，哪怕是资产规模和资本金这样的数据。朝鲜唯一的外资银行大同信贷银行(Daedong Credit Bank)今年4月份公布，由于不能同国外银行进行交易，该行的收入减少了一半。香港一家投资公司持有大同信贷银行70%的股份，一家朝鲜银行持有剩余股份。
去年11月，朝鲜指责美国对其施加的金融枷锁，决定退出六方会谈。
Evan Ramstad
