Korea Times
11/14/2007
U.S. and North Korean officials will meet in New York early next week to reopen talks on addressing Pyongyang’s alleged illicit financial activities, sources here said Tuesday.
Daniel Glaser, assistant treasury secretary in charge of terrorism financing, will lead the U.S. delegation to the talks scheduled Monday to Tuesday, according to the sources. It was not yet clear who will represent North Korea at the meeting. Previous sessions were led by O Kwang-chol, president of the Foreign Trade Bank of Korea.
The meeting is the first since the two countries resolved a banking issue that for over a year delayed North Korean denuclearization negotiations. The U.S. Treasury in September 2005 sanctioned Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a Macanese bank, for abetting North Korea’s laundering of money acquired through smuggling, counterfeiting and arms proliferation. The bank froze all North Korea-related accounts, and Pyongyang boycotted the denuclearization talks in protest.
The issue was settled with the release of some $25 million in North Korean money at the BDA early this year.
Sources said next week’s meeting will address North Korea’s suspected illicit activities that led to the Treasury’s sanctions, including Pyongyang’s counterfeiting of American currency.
North Korea has been accused of producing and circulating fake$100 bills, known as “supernotes” because of their near-authenticity, and smuggling contraband goods.
