인류역사상 최악의 정치집단인 김정일 정권과 협상을 하고 약속을 한다는 것은 악마와 거래하는 것보다 더 어렵다. 良識이 전무한 집단이기 때문이다. 이런 자를 길들이는 방법은 약속을 지키지 않으면 손해를 본다는 것을 인식시키는 길뿐이다. 북한정권은 요사이 또 희한한 짓을 하고 있다. 미국이 마카오 당국과 협의하여 마카오의 방코델타아시아(BDA) 은행에 예치된 북한돈 2500만 달러를 풀어주기로 했는데도 북한이 이 돈을 여태까지도 찾아가지 않고 있다.

이는 김정일의 속셈을 드러낸다. 김정일이 원한 것은 2500만 달러가 아니었다. 미국이 이 자금을 풀어주면 세계의 다른 은행들이 북한돈을 받아주고 북한계좌를 열어주어 국제금융기관을 다시 이용할 수 있다고 오판한 것이 김정일이었다. 미국은 그럴 입장이 못된다. 미국이 한 일은 북한자금을 풀어주면서도 BDA를 '돈세탁우려기관'으로 지정하여 미국 은행과 거래를 하지 못하도록 결정한 일이다. 이 조치는 이 은행의 숨통을 잘라버린 행위였다. 미국은행과 거래하지 못하고 미국 달러를 취급하지 못하는 은행은 문을 닫아야 한다. BDA는 머지 않아 청산절차에 들어갈 것이다.

BDA가 문을 닫게 된 것은 북한의 불법자금, 즉 위조달러 마약밀매 무기수출 자금 등을 받아주고 북한측에 신용장을 개설해주는 등 북한의 對外창구 역할을 해주었기 때문이다. 이런 은행을 문 닫게 함으로써 미국은 국제금융계에 강력한 메시지를 보냈다. 앞으로 북한의 계좌를 취급하는 은행은 BDA 신세가 될 것이다. 그러니 아무 은행도 북한 돈과 계좌를 취급하지 않으려 한다. 북한정권은 BDA에서 찾은 2500만 달러를 다른 은행에 옮길 수가 없게 된 것이다.

그래서 북한은 미국측에 대해서 2500만 달러를 받아줄 다른 은행을 지정해줄 것을 요청했다. 이는 미국이 받아줄 수가 없다. 북한돈을 취급하면 혼을 내겠다고 한 미국 정부가 북한돈을 받아주라는 요구를 어느 은행에 대해서 할 것인가?

김정일은 착각한 것이다. BDA 자금만 풀리면 국제금융시장을 이용할 수 있게 된다고 생각했는데 그렇게 되지 않고 일은 더 꼬이고 있다. 그래서 약속한 영변 원자로 폐쇄 조치도 미루고 있다.

김정일이 국제금융질서에 맞추어 은행의 관행을 개혁하고 마약밀매, 달러위조 등을 하지 않겠다고 선언하고 이를 실증해야 한다. 그렇게 하면 김정일 정권은 무너질 것이다. 이건 완전한 딜레머이다. 김정일은 금융제재의 덫에서 빠져나올 수가 없다. 이런 속사정을 잘 모른 한나라당의 얼치기들은 2.13 조치가 나오자마자 남북평화의 시대가 온다면서 지금까지의 對北노선을 수정하겠다고 나섰다. 엉터리 정보에 근거한 허망한 짓이었다.
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Bank transfer said snagging North Korea deal

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has not taken possession of money snagging a six-country nuclear agreement apparently because it wants the funds transferred to a reputable bank to guarantee access to the international financial system, current and former U.S. officials say.

But banks that receive the funds could be subject to U.S. sanctions so that has complicated Pyongyang's search for a solution, they said.


File photo of a couple riding past a center of Banco Delta Asia in Macau. North Korea has not taken possession of money snagging a six-country nuclear agreement apparently because it wants the funds transferred to a reputable bank to guarantee access to the international financial system, current and former US officials say. (REUTERS/Paul Yeung)
North Korea has said it would not start shutting down its Soviet-era Yongbyon reactor or invite U.N. nuclear inspectors back into the secretive state, until about $25 million in funds frozen at a Macau bank for suspected use in Pyongyang's illicit activities have been freed.

The United States insists it has done all it could do to make the funds, held by Banco Delta Asia, or BDA, available, but so far there is no indication Pyongyang has claimed them.

The North Koreans 'want access to their money, and would rather not withdraw it (as cash) in wheelbarrows in front of a gaggle of South Korean and Japanese press now staking out BDA,' one senior U.S. official told Reuters.

'Because BDA has been designated a money launderer (by the U.S. Treasury Department), the North Koreans would like to move the money to another bank that could do the full range of banking transactions that clearly the sanctioned BDA cannot do,' he said.

One idea was to put the money in a Bank of China account and designate it for humanitarian purposes.

But Michael Green, former top Asia specialist at the White House's National Security Council, said the Bank of China, which is listed on the international stock exchange, would not accept the money because of concerns it might be sanctioned.

The United States has designated BDA a 'prime money laundering concern' and said the North Korean accounts contained funds associated with Pyongyang's counterfeiting, drug-smuggling and other illicit activities.

TAINTED FUNDS?

U.S. officials this week said they still believe Pyongyang is engaged in these activities and that North Korea's BDA accounts contain tainted funds. The bank has challenged the U.S. ruling as politically motivated and lacking evidence.

'The Chinese wanted the Treasury Department to pledge that they would not sanction any bank that took this money ($25 million) but Treasury wasn't willing to do that. Our law won't allow us to do that, to give that kind of 'get out of jail free card,'' Green told a briefing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies where he is a senior adviser.

Since then, Pyongyang has sought to transfer the funds to other banks 'because they want to reopen their international financial transactions, their ability to move money,' he added.

The impact of the Treasury Department's action against BDA goes far beyond the $25 million because by raising concerns about North Korean accounts, U.S. officials have forced all banks to question whether, by dealing with Pyongyang, they could compromise their integrity and become liable to sanctions.

As a result, U.S. officials say they have severely limited Pyongyang's ability to do business as part of a strategy designed to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

Washington has gone to great lengths to explain to the North Koreans the process for releasing the funds and that the only way it can clear its reputation is by halting illicit activities and establishing a financial system that complies with international standards, U.S. officials say.

This was the main focus of six meetings that the White House's top Asia expert, Victor Cha, had with North Korean negotiator Kim Gae Gwan when Cha was in Pyongyang for three and a half days recently.




Copyright © 2007 Reuters





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Audit: NKorean bank called WMD 'proliferator' was Macau bank client
The Associated PressPublished: April 19, 2007


HONG KONG: The small Macau bank accused of laundering money for Pyongyang counted among its clients a North Korean bank blacklisted by the U.S. as a 'weapons of mass destruction proliferator and supporter,' an audit report said.

The name of the North Korean bank was blacked out in the audit of Banco Delta Asia, or BDA, by the accounting firm Ernst & Young dated December 2005. A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press Thursday.

The report said the bank was on a U.S. Treasury blacklist and was labeled a 'weapons of mass destruction proliferator and supporter' in June 2005.

The bank's account at BDA was closed September that year.

In a response included in the audit report, BDA said it didn't take action against the client because it didn't know it was on a blacklist.

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BDA is itself blacklisted by the U.S. Last month, Washington announced the bank would be blocked from doing business with American banks, a potentially crippling blow to most lenders.

American investigators have accused the bank of helping North Korea launder money and handle counterfeit currency.

Macau's Monetary Authority took control of the bank and froze about US$25 million (€18.6 million) in North Korean funds at BDA in 2005. That enraged the North Koreans, who for more than a year boycotted six-nation talks aimed at shutting down the North's nuclear program.

The bank has repeatedly denied having knowingly helped illicit activities by North Korea and said Monday it had filed a challenge against the U.S. ruling.

It said it was a family-owned lender that lacked the sophisticated equipment and procedures to combat money laundering and counterfeiting.

The audit report, which covers BDA's activities from Jan. 1, 2002 to Sept. 17, 2005, also says BDA did not keep sufficient records about the line of business of its North Korean clients and did not follow anti-money laundering guidelines issued by Macau monetary authorities.

While BDA executives visited North Korean customers, 'we did not see any visit report, photographs, product brochures, export customer information,' the report said.

BDA said in the audit that it trusted its North Korean customers were legitimate because the government had total control in the country.

'Since all businesses are state owned and (there are) no private enterprises in North Korea, plus the fact that North Korea, being a communist country, strictly controls everything, it is highly unlikely that North Korean banks, North Korean corporations, etc., will be involved in illegal business activities,' the report said.

The report also said BDA bought gold from North Korean clients, helped handle foreign exchange margin trading for them and provided them with letters of credit.

It said BDA bought more than 8,000 kilograms (17,600 pounds) of gold from North Korea over the three years and nine months covered by the report, an amount that covered a 'material part' of the country's gold production.

The report said the gold BDA bought is typically moved to Hong Kong, where it is bought by Delta Asia Credit, a company that belongs to the same financial group as BDA. Delta Asia Credit then sells the gold to a German trader whose name is also blacked out in the report.

The audit said North Korean clients accounted for 18 percent of BDA's turnover from Sept. 1, 2002 to Sept. 21, 2005.

The US$25 million at BDA has been unfrozen but it is believed the funds are difficult to move because other banks don't want to handle tainted money.

Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea has begun transferring some of its funds from Macau to an unnamed bank in Southeast Asia. The report couldn't immediately be confirmed.

Washington has come under criticism from U.S. conservatives for supporting the release of funds allegedly accrued from illegal activity.