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The United States expressed confidence Thursday that plans for North Korea to begin dismantling its nuclear weapons program from next week would proceed as scheduled although a key condition by Pyongyang has not been met.
The Stalinist regime has said it would not shut down its key nuclear facility by April 14 as required under an aid-for-disarmament deal until Washington frees up allegedly illicit North Korean money frozen in a Macau bank.
Washington was to have paved the way for the transfer of the 25 million dollars from Banco Delta Asia by mid-March but US Treasury Department officials have been laboring on the issue in Beijing for nearly two weeks without any breakthrough.
The state-owned Bank of China has reportedly refused to be the channel for the transfer of the funds — previously determined by the US Treasury to be tainted by North Korean money laundering and other illicit activity — for fear its credit rating would be affected.
“We still believe that it is possible to meet the 60-day deadline and are working with the other parties to accomplish that goal,” a State Department official told AFP, referring to the February 13 disarmament agreement that set the deadline.
The US optimism came despite reported concerns by China, South Korea and Japan that North Korea might not be able to meet the target due to the fund transfer problem.
Under the deal, brokered at six-party talks hosted by China, North Korea promised to shut down and seal its plutonium-producing Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange for energy aid and diplomatic concessions.
But Pyongyang has refused to return to any nuclear negotiations with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia until it gets control of the 25 million dollars.
Meanwhile, a former senior State Department official on Thursday blasted the administration of President George W. Bush for agreeing to unfreeze the allegedly illicit North Korean funds, saying it set a bad precedent to the international community.
“I think it shows in a small way what the problems are in trying to politicize law enforcement investigations,” said John Bolton, a former US envoy in the United Nations and top arms control official.
“I don't know whether the substance of this can be worked out before the 60 days expire but I do think whatever happens here will have a negative impact on other law enforcement investigations being conducted against North Korea and would have potential and even more destructive effects in other areas as well,” said Bolton, widely seen as a hawk on North Korea in the Bush administration.
By lifting its objections to unfreeze the North Korean funds, the United States was sending a wrong signal to European allies and the Japanese who had adhered to US-led calls to impose financial sanctions on Iran over its defiance in pursuing a sensitive nuclear program, Bolton said.
“The Treasury Department has had great success with European and Japanese financial institutions in excluding or limiting Iran's access to international financial markets,” he said.
“And I greatly fear that these institutions will say, 'now wait a minute, you want us to do X-Y-Z with respect to Iran and yet you just turned around and gave (Banco Delta Asia) a pass,” Bolton said.
