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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. announces final rule enforcing N. Korea's blacklisting as 'primary money laundering concern'

2016-11-13

Good golly, what on earth took so long? The U.S. Treasury Department announced a set of regulations enforcing its blacklisting of North Korea earlier this year as a "primary money laundering concern" aimed at cutting off the communist regime from the international financial system. The regulations, known as the "final rule," prohibit U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for North Korean banks and also require U.S. financial institutions to apply additional due diligence measures in order to prevent North Korean financial institutions from gaining improper indirect access to U.S. correspondent accounts. The rule was proposed in June when the Treasury designated the North as a "primary money laundering concern" engaged in illicit conduct, including using state-controlled financial institutions and front companies to engage in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles and to evade international sanctions. Adam J. Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Adam J. Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence "North Korea continues to use front companies and agents to conduct illicit financial transactions — some of which support the proliferation of WMD and the development of ballistic missiles — and evade international sanctions," said Adam J. Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. "Such funds have no place in any reputable financial system," he said. Though the North's financial institutions do not maintain correspondent accounts with U.S. financial institutions, the department said the North's government continues to use state-controlled financial institutions and front companies to "surreptitiously conduct illicit international financial transactions." The measure is similar to the 2005 blacklisting of Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a bank in Macau. The Treasury's designation of the bank as a primary money laundering concern not only froze North Korean money in the bank but also scared away other financial institutions from dealing with Pyongyang for fear they would also be blacklisted. The measure has been considered the most effective U.S. sanction on the North yet. But the restriction was later lifted as nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang made progress. Experts say that the latest designation could have a greater impact than the BDA sanctions because it designated the North as a whole as a money laundering concern, not just one bank as in the BDA case.

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. should hit N. Korea harder: U.S. lawmakers

2015-01-05

WASHINGTON -- The United States should hit North Korea harder to make the communist regime realize it will face a "real consequence" if it engages in acts like the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, a ranking U.S. senator said Sunday. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the previous Congress, was critical of the latest U.S. sanctions the administration of President Barack Obama announced Friday to punish Pyongyang for the Sony hack. "I think there has to be a real consequence to this," he said on CNN. "Otherwise, you will see it happen again and again." Even though it might have been done by a disgruntled ex-employee of Sony who had the access, skills and motivation. But any reason, even a phony one, is a good reason to tighten the screws on Fat Boy... The senator also was critical of Obama calling the Sony hack "cybervandalism." "Vandalism is when you break a window. Terrorism is when you destroy a building. And what happened here is that North Korea landed a virtual bomb on Sony's parking lot, and ultimately had real consequences to it as a company and to many individuals who work there," he said. Menendez also said the North should be re-listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. On Friday, the Obama administration announced retaliatory sanctions on the North in response to the Sony hack, blacklisting three North Korean entities and 10 officials, including the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang's primary intelligence organization. The blacklisting, which bans those sanctioned from using the U.S. financial system, were seen as largely symbolic because the North has already been under a string of international sanctions and those newly sanctioned are not believed to have any dealings with the U.S. So as usual, Champ doesn't really do anything... Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also questioned the effectiveness of the latest sanctions. He also vowed to introduce legislation that calls for much tougher sanctions on Pyongyang. "Many of the North Koreans blacklisted today have already been targeted by U.S. sanctions. We need to go further to sanction those financial institutions in Asia and beyond that are supporting the brutal and dangerous North Korean regime, as was done in 2005," Royce said in a statement. He was referring to the U.S. blacklisting of a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau that not only froze North Korean money held in Banco Delta Asia (BDA) but also scared away other financial institutions from dealing with Pyongyang for fear they would also be blacklisted. The measure is considered the most effective U.S. sanction yet on the North. Last year, Royce initiated the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act that calls for strengthening financial sanctions against Pyongyang, but the legislation was scrapped as it did not pass through the Senate before the 113th Congress ended last week. Royce has vowed to reintroduce a similar bill in the new Congress. North Korea, which denies responsibility for the Sony hack, has denounced the latest U.S. sanctions as evidence of U.S. "hostility" toward the North and vowed to further strengthen its pursuit of its "songun," military-first, policy. U.S. reaction to the North's foreign ministry statement was not immediately available.

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China-Japan-Koreas

South Korean Newspaper: Pudgy's money manager defects in Russia

2014-08-29

A senior North Korean banking official who managed money for leader Kim Jong Un has defected in Russia and was seeking asylum in a third country, a South Korean newspaper reported on Friday, citing an unidentified source. Yun Tae Hyong, a senior representative of North Korea's Korea Daesong Bank, disappeared last week in Nakhodka, in the Russian Far East, with $5 million, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported. The Daesong Bank is suspected by the U.S. government of being under the control of the North Korean government's Office 39, which is widely believed to finance illicit activities, including the procurement of luxury goods which are banned under U.N. sanctions. The bank was blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2010. The newspaper said North Korea had asked Russian authorities for cooperation in efforts to capture Yun. It was not clear how Yun traveled to Russia or what he was doing before he defected. Russia and North Korea share a 17-km (10.5 miles) land border. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, told Reuters it had no knowledge of the matter. Kim Jong Un, in his early 30s, came to power in December 2011 when his father, Kim Jong Il, died of a heart attack, leaving him little time to consolidate his powerbase and prepare for succession. Experts are divided as to whether Kim has managed to exert full control over a country in which he sits at the center of a leadership cult devoted to his father and grandfather. Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was also involved in the operation of Office 39, was purged in December last year, along with an unknown number of officials connected to him and his business interests. If Yun had indeed defected, he would not necessarily have extensive information on the regime given the compartmentalized way that North Korea functions, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea leadership expert at Dongguk University in Seoul. "(Officials) are only able to know about their work and commitments. It is hard to know something big beyond that in North Korea," he said. Korea Daesong Bank is focused on foreign exchange transactions and was set up in 1978 to handle payments by North Korean trading firms, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry's website. In 2005, $25 million of North Korea's cash was frozen at Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, which the U.S. Treasury said North Korea used for illicit activities. That case stands as practically the only public success in seizing funds from the isolated country.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korea's human-rights woes warrant renewal of sanctions

2014-02-28

This editorial from the Boston Globe is clear evidence that even a blind hog occasionally finds an acorn. Sanctions work? Who knew? CONCERNS OVER North Korea's steadily advancing nuclear program have often overshadowed the grave human rights situation inside that isolated country. The recent report of a UN commission that spent a year investigating rapes and mass starvation of political prisoners inside North Korea shone an important light on the behavior of this toxic regime. Unfortunately, the panel's recommendation that North Korean leader Fat Boy Kim Jong Un be held accountable for his actions in an international court is unlikely to be implemented any time soon. China holds veto power on the Security Council, and has already expressed its opposition to taking the North Korean leader to the International Criminal Court. Which is why the ultimate solution to Pudgy and his evil minions is to make a deal with China. Give them something they want, like control of the northern rim of North Korea with its access to raw materials and to the Sea of Japan. Promise them that US troops won't go above the 38th parallel. Let South Korea have the rest. Nevertheless, there is much the United States can do unilaterally to step up the pressure on this irresponsible regime. Passing the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2013 is a logical step that would ensure that bad behavior faces consequences. Wow. A progressive admitting that sanctions could do some good, and actually did some good against Iran? Much as Iran was confronted with crippling financial sanctions, the act would punish international financial institutions that do dirty work for North Korea. Under the act, the president of the United States would have the power to take action to deny the regime funds for serious human rights abuses, as well as nuclear proliferation, arms trafficking, kleptocracy, and imports of luxury goods by government officials. Banks that do business with Pyongyang would be faced with a choice: Risk being cut off from the US market, or stop doing business with North Korea. The act also stipulates that cargo that moves through ports that regularly fail to inspect North Korean cargo would face long delays entering the United States. While no sanctions regime is perfect, Congress already knows that this one works. From 2005 to 2007, the United States imposed similar sanctions on North Korea. The Treasury Department designated Banco Delta Asia, a Macau-based bank, as a "primary money laundering concern" and cut it off from the US financial system. The result was devastating for the North Korean regime. Macau banking authorities froze 50 North Korean accounts worth $24 million, severely hampering the regime's ability to access cash and purchase goods. Foreign businesses and banks shied away from doing business with North Korea -- even from legal business ventures. The effect was so crippling that in 2008, North Korea agreed to destroy some of its nuclear technology and return to international talks. As a reward, President George W. Bush lifted the sanctions. Unfortunately, North Korea has returned to its bad old ways, reneging on promises and resuming nuclear tests. It is high time for the United States to respond by renewing sanctions.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Pudgy's Slush Funds Found

2013-03-12

South Korean and U.S. authorities have found dozens of accounts presumed to belong to North Korean leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un in several banks in Shanghai and other parts of China. They contain hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet for some reason the accounts were excluded from financial sanctions under the new UN Security Council Resolution 2098, which was adopted last Thursday, posing questions over the effectiveness of the measures. For some reason indeed... A government source here said an investigation that lasted for several years led South Korea and the U.S. to the accounts. "We have located the names of the account holders and account numbers, some of them set up in the days of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il," the source added. South Korean and U.S. officials urged China to include the accounts in the latest sanctions against North Korea, but Beijing apparently refused. They gotta keep their boy in twinkies and cognac... "Following North Korea's third nuclear test, China has demonstrated willingness to take part in sanctions against the North," the government source said. "But Beijing is reluctant to touch North Korea's real Achilles heel." There's a lesson there for you gullible Westerners... The South Korean government believes freezing the bank accounts would have a stronger impact than freezing Kim Jong-il's accounts held at Macau's Banco Delta Asia some years ago because they hold much more money. In 2005, the U.S. froze US$25 million Kim Jong-il had deposited in some 50 accounts at BDA. North Korea hit back by boycotting the six-party nuclear talks, launching a long-range missile and conducting its first nuclear test in 2006. The latest UN sanctions in response to North Korea's third nuclear test require banks in member countries to halt financial services for the North involving funds that could be used to develop nuclear weapons or missiles. The sanctions also prohibit North Korean banks from engaging in new financial activities in UN member nations and vice versa.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Experts Look to Broader Nork Sanctions Regime

2012-12-11

What would we do without experts? Experts have told Daily NK that they expect a slightly different style of sanctions to be placed on North Korea if it goes ahead with its proposed long-range rocket launch later this month. After the North’s previous launch in April, the UN Security Council placed sanctions on a number of organizations that were thought to be helping facilitate North Korea’s trade in and development of weapons of mass destructions (WMD). However, experts expect any sanctions this time to not only target agencies directly implicated in WMD activities, but also to target a broader range of entities with economic clout in the North. It is an opinion based on the belief that cutting off funding sources can help to stop Pyongyang from conducting missile launches and nuclear weapons tests in future. Cho Bong Hyun, a researcher with the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) Economic Research Institute told Daily NK, “If we do not cut off North Korea’s lines of credit then sanctions cannot be effective. Therefore, they will try to strengthen economic sanctions. The trade that is currently going normally could be faced with more difficult conditions, and humanitarian assistance could be stopped, too.” Cho added, “In addition, it looks like a number more individuals and institutions will be added to the UN Security Council sanction list.” Another anonymous researcher commented, “The best thing would be to apply financial sanctions in order to freeze North Korean funds, as was done with Banco Delta Asia (BDA). The BDA issue created fresh resistance in North Korea; however, freezing North Korean funds can still inflict a huge blow on their money channels.” Each time the Norks do what they're not supposed to do, the sanctions should become tighter, broader and more biting. Each time they transgress we turn up the pressure. That's the only language they understand. Some voices have suggested that the role of the UN North Korea Sanctions Committee should be improved, with disciplinary actions for those who fail to support it. Baek Seung Joo of Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said, “Currently, sanctions against North Korea have been implemented across multi-faceted areas, but the problem is whether or not the sanctions are being implemented correctly. There need to be measures to warn those countries who are not actively taking part in the sanctions, and more monitoring of those countries which must apply them.” Of course, one such country is China, whose full cooperation is essential if the sanctions are to succeed. China has criticized North Korea’s latest launch plan, but it remains to be seen whether this will translate into action. North Korea does nothing big without China's approval... “The international community must emphasize China’s role as a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” Baek explained. “Even if the international community imposes sanctions on North Korea, these will not be effective if China supports North Korea. China must take responsibility for its actions.”

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. announces additional sanctions on N. Korea

2010-08-31

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) -- The United States Monday blacklisted several more North Korean entities and North Korean citizens for their involvement in weapons of mass destruction and other activities banned by U.N. resolutions. U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order to "expand the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13466 of June 26, 2008," to reinforce existing sanctions on North Korea. The U.S. currently blacklists more than 20 North Korean entities and individuals. Among the five North Korean entities and four North Korean individuals newly listed by executive orders 13466 and 13382 are "Office 39" of the North's ruling Workers Party, believed to manage slush funds for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and Ri Je-son and Ri Hong-Sop of the General Bureau of Atomic Energy. Also on the list are the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's premiere intelligence organization, suspected of being involved in the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, and Green Pine Associated Corp., the Korea Taesong Trading Co. and Korea Heungjin Trading Co. The new executive order takes note of the "unprovoked attack" on the Cheonan, which resulted in the deaths of 46 sailors in March, and North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, which "destabilize the Korean peninsula and imperil U.S. Armed Forces, allies, and trading partners in the region." It also cites North Korean actions in violation of Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874, "including the procurement of luxury goods; and its illicit and deceptive activities in international markets through which it obtains financial and other support, including money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods and currency, bulk cash smuggling, and narcotics trafficking." Robert Einhorn, the State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control who oversees U.S. sanctions on North Korea and Iran, visited Seoul early this month and is likely to fly to Beijing early next month to seek Chinese support for new sanctions on North Korea and Iran. The sanctions on North Korea are seen as less stringent than those on Iran, as Washington did not embody them in laws as it did with Iran. Some analysts say the U.S. is looking for a way to end the showdown with North Korea over the Cheonan incident, noting that in 2005 Washington had difficulty unfreezing US$25 million in North Korean assets at Macau's Banco Delta Asia due to technical matters. That significantly delayed the resumption of the six-party talks at the time. So we're not really serious ... U.S. officials said they will try to persuade the international community to voluntarily cut off ties with listed North Korean entities and individuals amid concerns that sanctions will be ineffective without support from China, North Korea's biggest benefactor. Beijing is considered a key to effective sanctions on Pyongyang because it is a lifeline to its impoverished communist neighbor, providing fuel, food and other necessities. China has been reluctant to slap sanctions on North Korea, focusing instead on reviving the six-party nuclear talks.

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. to blacklist more Nork entities, individuals in 2 weeks

2010-07-22

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Wednesday it will blacklist more North Korean entities and individuals within two weeks to cut off money flowing to its leaders through the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction and counterfeit and luxury goods in violation of U.N. resolutions. "We'll have more to say on the specific steps that will be taken in the next couple of weeks," State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said. "There will be additional State and Treasury designations of entities and individuals supporting proliferation, subjecting them to an asset freeze; new efforts with key governments to stop DPRK trading companies engaged in illicit activities from operating in those countries and prevent their banks from facilitating these companies' illicit transactions." Crowley said that the U.S. will not only use existing measures like the Patriot Act, which "gives us the ability to go after known North Korean counterfeiting in money," but also establish "new executive authorities." "It is to interrupt programs and funding that enable them to conduct these illicit activities: conventional arms exports; counterfeiting; drug trafficking," he said. Crowley was following up on remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said earlier in the day that Washington will impose new financial sanctions on North Korea in response to the North's torpedoeing of a South Korean warship. The steps also are intended to press the impoverished nation to abandon its ambitions for nuclear and missile programs. Clinton took note of Washington's freezing of more than US$25 million in North Korean accounts in Banco Delta Asia in 2005. The U.S. designated the Macau bank as an entity suspected of helping North Korea launder money it earned by circulating counterfeit $100 bills called supernotes. "We did get some action from the North Koreans as a result of these steps that were taken at that time," she said. Clinton is currently in Seoul to attend the two-plus-two talks with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and their South Korean counterparts, as part of her weeklong tour of South Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Vietnam. A diplomatic source here, however, said, "I don't think Washington will single out any one foreign bank, like they did to the Banco Delta Asia. I understand they are coming up with general guidelines for financial sanctions on North Korea." The U.S. lifted the freeze in early 2007 to entice the North to come back to the six-party talks. Washington officials have said the freeze effectively cut off Pyongyang's access to the international financial system and dealt the nation a devastating blow. Scores of North Korean entities and individuals are already blacklisted. North Korea, however, has been evading U.N. sanctions, Crowley said. "North Korean entities are adapting to the existing actions that we have been taking," the spokesman said, noting "the abuse of diplomatic privileges" involving North Korean diplomats "convicted of smuggling cigarettes, I believe, through diplomatic channels" in Sweden recently. "North Korea in turn has adapted their networks, created front companies, entities in various countries," he said. "They look to see which countries have been effectively complying in enforcing U.N. Security Council resolutions." Crowley urged China to do more in effective implementation of the U.N. sanctions. "In some cases we're seeing that on the surface it appears to be legitimate trade, but beneath the surface there's an illicit activity that supports the programs that are in fact sanctioned under U.N. Security Council resolutions," he said.

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. to Clamp Down on Kim Jong-il's Slush Funds

2010-05-29

Sanctions against North Korea by the U.S. government are expected to focus on Kim Jong-il's personal slush funds. The aim is to tighten the noose around Kim and the rest of the North Korean leadership rather than to increase pressure on the North Korean people, in a parallel with the 2005 freezing of what was apparently money for Kim's private use in the Banco Delta Asia in Macau. I'm wondering why on earth this wasn't done five years ago and maintained to this day. It shouldn't be possible to increase sanctions; sanctions should be as tight as they can possibly be. U.S. and South Korean intelligence are exchanging information about the bank accounts managed by a department of the North Korean Workers Party's Central Committee codenamed "Room 39," which manages Kim's personal coffers. "We discovered long ago that most of the overseas bank accounts that received money from South Korean businesses involved inter-Korean projects were owned by the North Korean military," said a South Korean government official. Room 39 is expected to be the main target of the latest financial sanctions. It has 17 overseas offices, some 100 trading companies, a gold mine and its own bank. The $200 million to $300 million earned by subsidiary companies have gone straight into Kim's overseas bank accounts. The director of Room 39, Jon Il-chun, is expected to face financial sanctions as well. Kim appointed Jon after the former head, Kim Tong-un, was put on a blacklist of North Korean officials by the EU in December. The U.S. government may also freeze overseas bank accounts held by North Korea's Reconnaissance Bureau, which is believed to have orchestrated the attack on the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March. But some experts say the U.S. may find it more difficult to apply financial pressure on North Korea because the North moved most of its money to accounts in China and Russia.

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. at Work on Strangling Kimmie's Cash Flow

2010-04-23

Why not just strangle Kimmie? The U.S. envoy charged with UN sanctions, Philip Goldberg, is still trying to block North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's cash flow, even as Washington has agreed to talks with Pyongyang aimed at persuading it to return to nuclear negotiations. North Korea invited U.S. North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth on Aug. 4, when former U.S. president Bill Clinton was in Pyongyang to win the release of two American journalists. The same day, Goldberg was on his way to Moscow, where he met Russian Vice Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin and reportedly asked Russia to crack down on a mafia gang based on a tip-off that it had been involved in the laundering slush funds for Kim Jong-il. South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities believe that North Korea recently earned a lot of foreign currency by smuggling ivory from Africa and distributing fake Viagra as well as selling drugs and circulating counterfeit dollars. The North allegedly laundered money or operated secret bank accounts with the help of the Russian gangsters after it became practically impossible for the North to carry out normal transactions using the real names of top officials or agencies. Russia then passed an advisory circular which the U.S. had sent around Russian banks. According to the source, North Korea expanded arms exports even after UN Security Council Resolution 1874 took effect in the wake of its second nuclear test on May 25. "North Korea has developed new markets in Africa and Latin America, in addition to expanding exports to its existing markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East," the source said. "It seems the North is mainly exporting small vessels such as Hovercraft and patrol boats and Air Force equipment including radar and GPS to Africa and Latin America." Goldberg then visited China in late October to persuade his hosts to implement sanctions against the North. He pledged to concentrate on blocking any money flow related to weapons of mass destruction. There are fears that the sanctions lost their bite when China in early October promised the North a massive aid package, but some experts disagree. Prof. Cho Young-ki of Korea University said, "The U.S.-led financial sanctions will deal a blow especially to Kim Jong-il's slush funds and the North's munitions economy. Unlike in 2005 when it sanctioned Banco Delta Asia, the U.S. now seems to have found a way to inflict pain on the North while not allowing it to openly resist." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apparently believes Golberg's efforts have been successful, saying Monday that North Korea now wants dialogue because nations of the six-party talks are taking concerted action in implementing sanctions against the North.

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. at Work on Strangling Kimmie's Cash Flow

2010-03-16

We could just strangle Kimmie and save the snooping around on the banks ... The U.S. envoy charged with UN sanctions, Philip Goldberg, is still trying to block North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's cash flow, even as Washington has agreed to talks with Pyongyang aimed at persuading it to return to nuclear negotiations. North Korea invited U.S. North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth on Aug. 4, when former U.S. president Bill Clinton was in Pyongyang to win the release of two American journalists. The same day, Goldberg was on his way to Moscow, where he met Russian Vice Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin and reportedly asked Russia to crack down on a mafia gang based on a tip-off that it had been involved in the laundering slush funds for Kim Jong-il. South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities believe that North Korea recently earned a lot of foreign currency by smuggling ivory from Africa and distributing fake Viagra as well as selling drugs and circulating counterfeit dollars. The North allegedly laundered money or operated secret bank accounts with the help of the Russian gangsters after it became practically impossible for the North to carry out normal transactions using the real names of top officials or agencies. Russia then passed an advisory circular which the U.S. had sent around Russian banks. According to the source, North Korea expanded arms exports even after UN Security Council Resolution 1874 took effect in the wake of its second nuclear test on May 25. "North Korea has developed new markets in Africa and Latin America, in addition to expanding exports to its existing markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East," the source said. "It seems the North is mainly exporting small vessels such as Hovercraft and patrol boats and Air Force equipment including radar and GPS to Africa and Latin America." Goldberg then visited China in late October to persuade his hosts to implement sanctions against the North. He pledged to concentrate on blocking any money flow related to weapons of mass destruction. There are fears that the sanctions lost their bite when China in early October promised the North a massive aid package, but some experts disagree. Prof. Cho Young-ki of Korea University said, "The U.S.-led financial sanctions will deal a blow especially to Kim Jong-il's slush funds and the North's munitions economy. Unlike in 2005 when it sanctioned Banco Delta Asia, the U.S. now seems to have found a way to inflict pain on the North while not allowing it to openly resist." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apparently believes Golberg's efforts have been successful, saying Monday that North Korea now wants dialogue because nations of the six-party talks are taking concerted action in implementing sanctions against the North.

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China-Japan-Koreas

U.S. to impose financial sanctions on N.Korea: report

2009-06-06

Any day now, you betcha ... SEOUL (Reuters) -- The United States has told South Korea it is preparing financial measures to punish North Korea for illicit weapons trade and counterfeiting activities after its nuclear test last week, a newspaper report said on Friday. Plans to hit the North's finances were discussed during a four-day visit to Seoul by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, the South Korean daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo said. "The U.S. delegation ... explained when visiting President Lee Myung-bak and others Washington's own sanctions against the North centered around financial sanctions," the paper quoted a presidential Blue House official as saying. North Korea has raised regional tensions since it fired a long-range rocket over Japan in April, and on Thursday the hermit state put two female U.S. journalists on trial for illegally entering its territory with "hostile intent." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she hoped the trial would result in their speedy release and confirmed the United States had explored sending a special representative to Pyongyang to negotiate for the journalist's freedom. "The trial which is going on right now we consider to be a step toward the release and the return home of these two young women," she told reporters in Washington. Clinton did not discuss any bilateral sanctions the United States was considering but made clear Washington wanted the "strongest possible" resolution to emerge from negotiations at the United Nations to punish the North for its recent actions. "If there are effective sanctions that we believe can be imposed -- an arms embargo, and other steps that need to be taken -- we need to see real results," she added. U.N. diplomats said negotiations among the five permanent Security Council members and Japan had yet to produce a deal on a sanctions resolution. One diplomat said the latest draft resolution called for a "moderate" tightening of sanctions imposed on Pyongyang in 2006 after its first nuclear test. Is that like a moderately strongly worded statement? Diplomats said China was unhappy about language calling for inspections of vessels carrying North Korean cargo to and from the communist state that might constitute a violation of a partial trade and arms embargo against Pyongyang. Have to keep the trade lanes to Iran open ... In 2005, the Bush administration imposed financial sanctions on the North over counterfeiting and drug-running. The 2005 crackdown on Banco Delta Asia in Macau froze about $25 million in funds of Pyongyang's leadership. Most banks around the world steered clear of North Korean funds as a result, fearful of being snared themselves by U.S. financial authorities. Bankers at the time said that as a result North Korea was forced to move its money around in suitcases of cash. "The steps we've taken in the past ... in the banking sector, you know, certainly did get North Korea's attention previously and if we find ways to do that, we will do so," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters. Same result as 2005; banning the one bank caused everyone else to steer clear. So it's no different though it sounds different. Bambi is just 'Bush-lite'.

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