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North Korea issues ultimatum
17/03/2007 09:42 - (SA)
Beijing - North Korea will not shut down its nuclear facilities until the United States releases all funds frozen in a Macau bank, the communist state's chief nuclear negotiator said Saturday.
"If the United States does not remove all of its restriction on our funds at Banco Delta Asia (BDA), we cannot shut down our nuclear facilities at Yongbyon," Kim Kye-gwan told reporters on arrival in Beijing.
Kim's comments were North Korea's first reaction to the US treasury's announcement on Wednesday that it had cleared the way for the release of about $25m of North Korean funds frozen in the Macau-based BDA.
In its ruling, the US treasury barred US banks from dealing with BDA, an institution it said had laundered money for reclusive North Korea.
But the move allowed Macau authorities to decide what to do with the cash after the bank was left in receivership.
'Operations won't stop at all'
Asked if North Korea would stop some of the operations in Yongbyon if only part of the frozen funds were released, Kim said: "(In that case) operations won't stop at all," reported South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Referring to any future visit to North Korea by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, Kim said: "The entry by IAEA staff will come only after Yongbyon is shut down. There would be no reason for them to come as long as Yongbyon is not shut down."
Kim added that North Korea had not received any notification from the United States regarding the lifting of financial sanctions, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
US envoy dismisses concerns
Christopher Hill, chief US envoy on North Korea, said Saturday the BDA issue "will not pose an obstacle to the six-party talks."
"I'm quite sure we will not be talking about the BDA issue any more in a couple of days," Hill said.
A pro-Pyongyang newspaper on Friday had hailed US moves to resolve financial sanctions against North Korea as a "landmark event," raising hopes for progress in long-running disarmament talks.
Kim and Hill are in Beijing for Monday's start of the next round of six-party negotiations, which group the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan.
- AFP
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