Banks worldwide could face consequences
Washington indicated that it would expand sanctions to cover North Korean bank accounts worldwide, saying that the North was hiding considerable illegal funds in international banks, including some in Europe. In an interview with Reuters on Aug. 21, Stuart Levey, the U.S. Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said his administration is continuously urging worldwide financial institutions to carefully evaluate the potential consequences of retaining North Korea-related accounts. Levey’s remarks indicated that U.S. financial sanctions against the communist regime would likely be strengthened and expanded to cover all of North Korea’s bank holdings in foreign countries. Levey said that since North Korea uses international bank accounts for the proliferation of weapons and illegal activities such as dollar counterfeiting and drug smuggling, there is almost no division of legal and illegal when it comes to North Korean funds.Earlier than this, regarding North Korea’s dollar counterfeiting, U.S. President George W. Bush remarked that the counterfeiting of U.S. dollars is a very important issue for every president of every nation. In order to arrest people who counterfeit your currency, he said, you should take proper measures. President Bush stressed that there will be no changes in regulations and sanctions against unlawful activities by North Korea. In the meantime, the U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment on a report by Bloomberg that Levey visited Vietnam on July 18-19 and warned the Vietnamese central bank and Foreign Ministry officials regarding 10 North Korean accounts at banks there.
