North Korea and the United States on Tuesday started bilateral talks aimed at resolving the stand-off over Washington's financial sanctions in place against the communist country since last year, an American embassy official said.
"The discussions began at 3:00 p.m. at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing," the official said, requesting anonymity. He declined to give more details.
The financial discussions, held on the sidelines of the six-way talks on the North's nuclear program, are aimed at addressing a dispute over U.S. restrictions on a Macau bank linked with the communist country.
The U.S. Treasury blacklisted the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in September last year, claiming it served as a base for the North's illicit financial acts. The measure has frozen the North's US$24 million worth of accounts in the bank and effectively cut Pyongyang's financial network with the outside world.
The outcome of Tuesday's discussions are seen as the key to progress in the nuclear talks that resumed on Monday after a 13-month break. North Korea insists that it can discuss its nuclear issue only after the BDA accounts are unfrozen.
A four-member team of North Korean financial specialists arrived here earlier in the day, headed by O Kwang-chol, president of the Foreign Trade Bank of Korea, the reclusive regime's arm for foreign banking.
When he arrived at Beijing international airport, O gave no comments to reporters. He was whisked away in a sedan with a license plate for the North Korean Embassy in Beijing.
His U.S. negotiating partner is Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser.
Beijing, Dec. 19 (Yonhap News)
U.S. N. Korea begin talks on financial sanctions |
