U.S. treasury official says other funding is being probed

Stuart Levey, under secretary of the U.S. Treasury and in charge of cracking down on the financial support of terrorism, said that it is not likely that North Korea will use money it earns from inter-Korean economic cooperation projects to finance the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

In a telephone interview with the Voice of America on July 25, Levey, however, added that he still worries that the North could be using global financial institutions to secure money needed for the proliferation of WMDs.

Asked how the United States will deal with the North in the wake of its July 5 missile launches, he said that Washington is considering reinstating economic sanctions which were eased in 1999 on the communist country. He made no mention of new sanctions outside of those, however.

Levey called the move by the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning the North's missile launches earlier this month historically important, and said it would eventually make it more difficult for financial institutes to do business if they are helping the North in its development of WMDs.

Levey also said that the North's alleged money laundering and other wrongdoings at Macau’s Banco Delta Asia, revealed in September last year, is only the tip of the iceberg. Further investigations have shed more light on the allegations and Washington is continuing to probe Pyongyang’s involvement in other illegal activities, he said.

Levey said that the South Korean government is cooperating with the United States in blocking the North from engaging in illegal financial transactions, preventing the spread of WMDs and preventing terrorists from reaching international financial networks.