US Urges North to Resume 6-Way Talks

Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, urged North Korea to come back to the six-way talks as soon as possible on May 2, saying, “The North is missing the opportunity to get at least $80 million worth of aid every month while it takes issue with the freezing of [$24 million of] its funds.”

Hill mentioned the above during a luncheon meeting at the Seoul-Washington Forum in Washington. The frozen money he refers to is $24 million out of the North’s deposits at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) Bank in Macau, which is suspected of being laundered.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com