BDA Issue to be Resolved Next Week and February 13 Accord to be Implemented

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Song Min-soon said on March 23, “By resolving the BDA issue, namely, North Korea’s frozen bank accounts in Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in Macao, by next week, we will try to reach an agreement to start implementing the February 13 accord. Within the next 60 days, the initial action will be completed.”

In a forum with the Korean Broadcasting Journalists Club on March 23 at 63 Building in downtown Seoul, Minister Song said, “Returning $2.5 million in North Korean assets at the BDA to the North is an entirely technical and procedural matter. It dose not suggest systematic flaws in policies nor will it influence any policies.”

When asked about the possibility of North Korea’s nuclear facility disablement, he responded, “Disablement is not something that can be made by setting a technical deadline. It is a matter of willingness. Disablement will take a shorter time if supported by economic and energy assistance or a lift of sanctions such as the removal of North Korea from the list of terrorism sponsoring states.”

With regard to the demand by the U.S. to open up Korea’s rice market in the ongoing FTA negotiations, Minister Song said sternly, “Rice is not negotiable to Korea.”

Regarding Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s denial of the forceful recruitment of Korean women as sex slaves for the Japanese army during the Second World War, Song criticized, saying, “Japan said there was coercion in a broad sense but not in a narrow sense. In my opinion, he must not engage in such a game of semantics.”

Meanwhile, as for the delayed return of money at BDA to North Korea, government authorities have stated, “Since every bank is afraid of receiving or even just dealing with North Korean assets, the most difficult problem is to find a bank for money transfer.”

Minister Song also added, “Although North Korea gave up receiving money into an account held by North Korea`s Foreign Trade Bank at the Bank of China in Beijing and opened up a new bank account in a third country, the county itself is also expressing difficulty.”

North Korea is trying to form an environment to start international financial transactions beyond merely receiving frozen assets of $2.5 million at the BDA; however, it seems to be a difficult task at this time.

Chun Young-woo, Korea’s chief negotiator of six-party talks and special representative for Korean peninsular peace and security, returned to Korea on March 23 and gave a briefing on the recent development at the foreign ministry’s headquarters. During the briefing, Chun said, “I believe that after the nuclear test, North Korea was able to check its reality in the international community and seriously learned some lessons.”

taewon_ha@donga.com