N. Korea Refuses U.S. Treasury’s Financial Reports on BDA Bank Accounts

Washington and Pyongyang has formed a working group in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to discuss the issue of North Korea’s frozen bank accounts in Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in Macao on the second day of the fifth round of the six-party talks held in Beijing Tuesday.

During the discussion, the U.S. suggested the financial reports done by its Treasury Department to North Korea. The report said the North’s bank accounts in BDA have been used to launder money, distribute counterfeit U.S. dollars, and trade weapons. With the report, Washington asked Pyongyang to try to prevent such illegal acts from recurring, but Pyongyang is said to have refused to acknowledge most of the claims.

Early Tuesday morning, four members of the North Korean delegation, including president of the North’s Foreign Trade Bank of Korea O Kwang Chol, arrived in Beijing to take part in the working group discussion. At Diaoyutai in Beijing, one-on-one talks between the U.S. and North Korea and talks among envoys from the six countries of the nuclear talks were held separately to discuss the issue of the denuclearization of North Korea.

A diplomat in Beijing said, “North Korea’s voice among the envoys has toned down at the talks on Tuesday compared to the strong stance it showed during its keynote speech on Monday. During the speech, the North suggested disarmament talks.”

Several diplomats in Beijing stated that although the communist country maintained prerequisites which it demands for denuclearization, such as lifting financial sanctions against the North and dropping the U.S. hostile policy toward Pyongyang, it didn’t even mention some of its previous demands and refrained from using strong words.

South Korea also held bilateral talks with the North at Diaoyutai on Tuesday and persuaded Pyongyang to accept programs to implement the denuclearization and related measures altogether.

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