NKorea disarmament drive gathers pace

BEIJING – The top US negotiator on North Korea said yesterday the United States had done what it could to overcome a key stumbling block to a deal on dismantling the communist state’s nuclear arms drive.

As a fresh series of negotiations began in Beijing, Christopher Hill hailed a US Treasury Department decision that clears the way for the release of North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank, one of the regime’s key demands. Hill’s comments came amid cautious optimism over the tortuous disarmament process, one day after Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, returned from Pyongyang saying North Korea was committed to the talks.”I think we have fulfilled what we need to do,” Hill told reporters in the Chinese capital.”I’m confident the six-party process is going to go ahead.”He also said Washington was willing to offer the North humanitarian aid as part of a six-nation agreement reached last month for Pyongyang to shut down its nuclear facilities.”We’ve had some ideas for quick-start humanitarian projects,” Hill said.”One of the projects under consideration has been providing some generators that could be useful in, for example, hospitals.”North Korea had demanded that US financial sanctions – under which around 25 million dollars of North Korean funds has been frozen in the Macau bank – be resolved before any further progress in the six-nation disarmament talks.The US decision, while banning US banks from dealing with Banco Delta Asia (BDA), allows Macau authorities to decide what to do next, which could involve returning the North’s money.The issue was one of the major hurdles following the accord reached on February 13 under which Pyongyang pledged to begin closing down its nuclear programme in return for energy aid and diplomatic concessions.The sanctions were imposed after the United States accused BDA in September 2005 of helping North Korea launder and counterfeit money.Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso welcomed the US Treasury’s new position.”We hope it will be a major step (in the disarmament process),” he said in Tokyo.However there was no guarantee the US strategy would work, as North Korea did not give an immediate response and it was unclear how much money would be released, or when.China also expressed concern, possibly because it saw the move as a slight on the financial integrity of Macau, the former Portugese territory that returned to the Chinese fold in 1999.China is the host of the six-nation disarmament talks, which began in 2003 and also involve the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.Nampa-AFPHill’s comments came amid cautious optimism over the tortuous disarmament process, one day after Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, returned from Pyongyang saying North Korea was committed to the talks.”I think we have fulfilled what we need to do,” Hill told reporters in the Chinese capital.”I’m confident the six-party process is going to go ahead.”He also said Washington was willing to offer the North humanitarian aid as part of a six-nation agreement reached last month for Pyongyang to shut down its nuclear facilities.”We’ve had some ideas for quick-start humanitarian projects,” Hill said.”One of the projects under consideration has been providing some generators that could be useful in, for example, hospitals.”North Korea had demanded that US financial sanctions – under which around 25 million dollars of North Korean funds has been frozen in the Macau bank – be resolved before any further progress in the six-nation disarmament talks.The US decision, while banning US banks from dealing with Banco Delta Asia (BDA), allows Macau authorities to decide what to do next, which could involve returning the North’s money.The issue was one of the major hurdles following the accord reached on February 13 under which Pyongyang pledged to begin closing down its nuclear programme in return for energy aid and diplomatic concessions.The sanctions were imposed after the United States accused BDA in September 2005 of helping North Korea launder and counterfeit money.Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso welcomed the US Treasury’s new position.”We hope it will be a major step (in the disarmament process),” he said in Tokyo.However there was no guarantee the US strategy would work, as North Korea did not give an immediate response and it was unclear how much money would be released, or when.China also expressed concern, possibly because it saw the move as a slight on the financial integrity of Macau, the former Portugese territory that returned to the Chinese fold in 1999.China is the host of the six-nation disarmament talks, which began in 2003 and also involve the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.Nampa-AFP