北朝鮮の立場表明 全文 資金凍結解除
【北京１３日共同】北朝鮮外務省報道官が１３日行った、マカオの銀行の資金凍結解除発表への立場表明全文は次の通り。
われわれは、１０日に米財務省とマカオ行政当局が銀行バンコ・デルタ・アジア（ＢＤＡ）に預金されているわれわれの資金に対する凍結を解除すると発表したことに留意する。
われわれの当該金融機関が、今回の発表の実効性について直ちに確認するだろう。
（６カ国協議の）２・１３合意を履行しようとするわれわれの意思には変わりがなく、制裁解除が現実に証明されれば、われわれも行動するだろう。
（初版:４月13日16時51分）
中国新聞・詳報
北朝鮮は今後も条件を出し続ける、アーミテージ氏
【ソウル１３日聯合】米国のアーミテージ元国務副長官は１３日、「北朝鮮は今後も条件を出し続け、簡単に核を放棄することはないだろう」と述べ、北朝鮮の核 兵器放棄の意志に対する冷ややかな見方を示した。ソウル市内のホテルで開かれた安保経営フォーラムに出席し、韓米同盟の現在と未来をテーマに講演したもの。
アーミテージ副長官は、北朝鮮に対する米国の軍事的オプションの可能性について尋ねられると、「軍事的解決策は外交的手段が尽きた後、出てくる可能性がある」と述べた。米政府は武力使用案を交渉のテーブルから完全に排除したわけではないとの考えだ。しかし、韓国には在韓米軍があり韓国の立場も考慮する必要があるため、北朝鮮に対し武力を行使する際は、消極的な適用が可能かは分からないものの先制攻撃はほぼ不可能だろうと強調した。
また、米国は北朝鮮の核を決して受け入れることはできないとの立場であり、核問題の解決がなければ米朝の関係正常化は絶対に不可能だと強く述べた。
YONHAPNEWS WORLD SERVICE : JAPANESE NEWS
Kim's $25 Million
he State Department yields (again) to North Korea.
Friday, April 13, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Tomorrow is the 60-day deadline for North Korea to come clean about its nuclear program, and it will be fascinating to see how much it admits. On the evidence of the last week, however, don't be surprised if Kim Jong Il concludes that the Bush Administration will accept whatever he declares.
The U.S. has sent precisely that signal by succumbing to the dictator's demands that the U.S. release $25 million gained by North Korea's criminal enterprises. The money comes from 52 North Korean accounts at Banco Delta Asia, a little bank in the Chinese territory of Macau. Macau froze the funds 18 months ago at the behest of the U.S. Treasury.
The U.S. had originally agreed to release half of the money in return for North Korea's February promise to give up its nuclear weapons program. But Treasury initially said it would not release some $12.5 million that was the clear product of such illegal activity as drug trafficking, money laundering, missile proliferation and a huge counterfeiting operation in hundred-dollar U.S. bills. The money was to go into a fund for humanitarian use in North Korea.
In its report on the Macau bank released last month, Treasury cited the "routine use" of couriers to ferry huge sums of currency in and out of the bank, to the tune of $50 million by a single depositor in 2002. It said individuals and entities with ties to North Korea have been linked to "trade in counterfeit U.S. currency, counterfeit cigarettes, and narcotics." That includes companies suspected of laundering "hundreds of millions of dollars in cash" through Banco Delta Asia.
Not surprisingly, North Korea immediately declared that it would refuse any further negotiation until the U.S. turned over the entire $25 million. Also not surprisingly, the State Department argued that the U.S. should do so lest the nuclear talks fall apart. President Bush agreed with State, and Macau lifted its hold on the money this week.
The Bush Administration is selling this dirty-money deal as a requirement of diplomatic realism and a price that must be paid for the larger strategic goal of getting North Korea to cooperate. But it's also true that the U.S. is allowing Kim to get away with his ill-gotten gains. Only weeks after the Treasury laid out a detailed rap sheet, the U.S. says never mind.
The bigger issue is the message this sends about the "arms control" process now under way. Under the February deal, Kim is obliged to shut down the nuclear facility at Yongbyon and disclose all of his nuclear programs and weapons. He is also obliged to open all of those to international inspection before the U.S. and other countries give him any more aid or money. But Pyongyang's pattern has long been to admit as little as possible every step of the way, and then insist that the U.S. must make further concessions at every instance. By caving on the $25 million, the U.S. is telling Kim he can keep playing this game.
Japan has the better idea. This week it extended its sanctions for another six months--no imports of North Korean products, no port visits by North Korean ships. Last month it testified at the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs about the North's illegal trade in amphetamines. Under the February nuclear deal, it is refusing aid to the North until Pyongyang provides information on the Japanese citizens it abducted and may still be holding.
Meanwhile, life for the 23 million North Koreans is, if anything, grimmer than ever. There were reports of famine this winter. The authorities are cracking down harder on Koreans who flee to China seeking food or work and are caught and repatriated, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. The South Korean press reports that Pyongyang has ordered its diplomats stationed abroad to send their children home, apparently to help prevent defections. The return of the $25 million will only help Kim reinforce his control.
Assuming Pyongyang even meets tomorrow's deadline, the U.S. will have to decide how much it can believe the North Korean declaration. The goal should be dismantling North Korea's entire nuclear program, not continuing arms-control negotiation for its own sake.
OpinionJournal - Featured Article