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N Korea halts arms talks over frozen funds
 The latest round of talks on North Koreas nuclear weapons programme broke down on Thursday without Pyongyangs representative attending a single meeting, saying negotiations could not continue until the US had met the initial requirements of last months denuclearisation deal.But Kim Kye-gwans insistence on receiving the $25m in North Korean-related money frozen at Macaos Banco Delta Asia is likely to prove a hiccup rather than a major setback, analysts say. The US Treasury on Monday said it had authorised the return of all the $25m (18.7m, £12.7m) initially said to have been earned through counterfeiting and money-laundering to North Korea but transferring the money is turning out to be a complicated process. The major issue was that [North Korea] did not want to engage in substantive follow-up until the finalisation of the BDA issue had been achieved, Christopher Hill, the USs chief negotiator in the talks, said yesterday. Its turned out that some of those details were complex. Under the agreement forged in Beijing last month, the US had to resolve the BDA issue within 30 days and then North Korea would shut down its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor and provide a full list of all its nuclear weapons programmes in the following 30 days. Were still on schedule to meet the 60-day requirements, Mr Hill said. Posted by: Fred 2007-03-23 |
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