2007年VOA标准英语-Macau Bank Transfers North Korean Funds
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（单词翻译）
By Kurt AchinSeoul
14 June 2007
A Chinese official in Macau confirms North Korean funds have been transferred out of a bank there, en route to Pyongyang. The transfer removes a major obstacle in getting Pyongyang to fulfill1 its promise to begin dismantling2 its nuclear programs. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul, the banking3 breakthrough coincides with a South Korean announcement of emergency food assistance for the North.
| A man talks on a mobile phone in front of the headquarters of Banco Delta Asia in Macau, March 2007 file photo |
Tam says Macau's Banco Delta Asia remitted7 more than $20 million according to the instructions of a North Korean client.
Tam did not reveal the precise path of the funds. South Korean and Japanese media report the funds would be processed through the U.S. Federal Reserve and the central bank of Russia to a North Korean account in a Russian bank.
About $25 million in North Korean funds were frozen at Macau's Banco Delta Asia, after the United States Treasury8 said in 2005 the bank was involved in illegal activities, such as money laundering9. Although the United States removed its objection to returning the money to the North, no bank had been willing to handle the transfer for fear of jeopardizing10 relations with the U.S. banking system.
North Korea has blamed the transfer delay for its refusal to meet a deadline for shutting down its main nuclear-production facility. The mid-April deadline was the first phase in a multi-national agreement made with North Korea in February in Beijing aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons capabilities11.
In Seoul, Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung announced South Korea would send more than 30,000 tons of emergency corn, wheat, and beans to North Korea via the U.N. World Food Program.
Lee says the action is appropriate given North Korea's situation, and the South's role as a responsible member of international society.
World Food Program officials say the economically isolated12 North faces some of its most severe food shortages since the mid-1990s, when it suffered widespread famine.
South Korea said it has delayed delivery a much larger shipment of rice until Pyongyang lives up to its February agreement promises.
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| Christopher Hill (file photo) |
It remains13 to be seen whether resolving the bank issue will be enough to persuade North Korea to take action on its nuclear program. Experts say that will depend on whether Pyongyang feels it has the full access to the international banking system, which it feels it deserves.
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