Yonhap
11/18/2007
A North Korean delegation is visiting Wall Street to meet financiers and attend a seminar that could help the isolated communist country gain access to the international financial system, sources here said on Sunday.
The six-member delegation led by Ki Kwang-ho, a director at the North Korean Finance Ministry, arrived here on Thursday for the two-day-long session, which starts Monday. The U.S. side is to be represented by Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser and other officials involved in ending Pyongyang’s suspected illicit activities.
The visit by the North’s delegation, the first of its kind, comes about one year after the release of some US$25 million in North Korean funds that were frozen at a Macau bank over their alleged connection to money laundering and other illegal activities.
Although the assets were released in a one-time transaction through the international financial system, the North has said it wants full access to the system without financial sanctions from the U.S., which has considerable influence over the global market.
The delegation’s visit also coincides with recent progress in the multilateral negotiations for North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, in which Washington is negotiating with Pyongyang on the removal of the North from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and the termination of the application of its Trading with the Enemy Act.
Washington, one of major shareholders in the International Monetary Fund and other lending institutions, is obliged by law to oppose any loans to countries on the list.
The North Korean financial officials met with financiers at the heart of global finance here Saturday to discuss international financing for the isolated communist state, informed sources said.
Donald Gregg, chairman of the New York-based Korea Society, quoted the North Koreans as saying Friday that they came to learn about ways to get access to the international financial system.
While attending a seminar sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, the North Koreans asked about know how to join the IMF and other international financial institutions, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea said.
Another North Korea expert, however, predicted a long and bumpy road ahead for the North, saying the isolated, impoverished communist state needs a lot of manpower, experience and technologies before joining the international financial system.
