Russia has not received N. Korean funds - finance minister
18/06/2007 12:07
MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's finance minister said Monday North Korean funds from a Macao bank had not been transferred to a bank in Russia's Far East, where the North Korean government has an account.
"I have received a letter from the U.S. Treasury guaranteeing that sanctions will not be applied [against a bank participating in the money transfer]," Alexei Kudrin told reporters at an investor conference in Moscow.
He said the sides were still working on technicalities for the money transfer and the Dalkombank (Far East Commercial Bank), based in Khabarovsk, had not yet received the funds.
"When we are 100 percent sure [that sanctions will not be applied], the Finance Ministry will allow the transfer," the minister said.
Russia said previously it could make a financial vehicle available for the transfer of North Korea's funds if Washington guarantees that no sanctions against Russia will follow.
The U.S. envoy at six-party nuclear talks, Christopher Hill, said Saturday that the final transfer of North Korea's previously-frozen $25 million from a Macao bank has been held up by technical problems.
The North Korean accounts held in Banco Delta Asia in Macao were frozen in September 2005 after the U.S. accused the regime of counterfeiting and money laundering. And although the accounts were unfrozen in March, after North Korea agreed to shut down its Yongbyon reactor, the BDA was blacklisted making foreign banks wary of handling any further transactions.
The transfer, when completed, will dramatically improve the chances of ending a deadlock in the implementation of North Korea's denuclearization plan, adopted in February at Beijing talks between Pyongyang and the five other countries involved in the protracted dispute over its nuclear program - South Korea, the United States, China, Russia, and Japan.
Christopher Hill said Monday that the Yongbyon reactor could be shut down within a few weeks following the North Korean funds transfer.
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