米銀経由で送金か 北朝鮮資金 第三国への『窓口選定』

【ワシントン＝小栗康之】米紙ワシントン・タイムズは十一日、マカオの銀行、バンコ・デルタ・アジア（ＢＤＡ）にある約二千五百万ドルの北朝鮮関連資金をめぐって、第三国への送金窓口となる米国の銀行を米政府が選定したと報じた。

　送金が実現すれば、北朝鮮が核放棄の初期段階措置の履行を拒む理由として挙げていたＢＤＡ問題が一応決着することになる。

　同紙は数日中に送金が行われる可能性があるとも指摘している。ただ、こうした報道に関し、マコーマック国務省報道官は同日の記者会見で「なにも決まっていない」と述べた。

　同紙の報道は、銀行名に触れていないが、大手ではないとしている。

　米政府は、北朝鮮が求めるＢＤＡから第三国への送金を可能にするため、資金の受け皿となる銀行を探していたとされる。

　米財務省が不正資金と判断したＢＤＡにある北朝鮮資金を米国の銀行で受け入れる異例の判断については、ライス国務長官とポールソン財務長官が決めたという。

　受け入れ条件として、この銀行に処罰が加えられないことを米政府が保証するとみられるほか、現在、国務省と財務省でＢＤＡ資金を扱っても違法行為とならない最善の方法を検討しているという。

東京新聞:米銀経由で送金か　北朝鮮資金　第三国への『窓口選定』:国際(TOKYO Web)

U.S. bank helps clear hurdle to shut reactor

By Nicholas Kralev
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 11, 2007

The Bush administration has found a U.S. bank willing to accept $25 million in North Korean funds, and officials hope the transfer -- the final hurdle to the closure of the North's main nuclear reactor -- can take place in the next few days, The Washington Times has learned.
The resolution of the issue would end a weeks-long effort by U.S. officials to find a bank in any country that will agree to accept the money -- which has been linked to illicit activities -- in exchange for guarantees that it will not be penalized.
Lawyers at the State and Treasury departments are seeking the best way to allow the transfer without breaking U.S. law.
The money is currently deposited in 52 accounts at Macao's Banco Delta Asia (BDA), which was designated by the Treasury Department in 2005 as a "primary money-laundering concern" under Section 311 of the Patriot Act.
U.S. officials did not identify the American bank, although they suggested that it is not one of the bigger and more recognizable institutions.
The highly unusual decision to let North Korean money labeled by the Treasury as "dirty" be deposited in a U.S. bank -- entailing full access to the international financial system -- was made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., officials said.
No official agreed to speak on the record because none was authorized to discuss the matter and no decision has been made to disclose the development publicly.
Miss Rice's purpose, they said, was to remove what Pyongyang says is the only remaining obstacle to shutting down its Yongbyon nuclear complex, as agreed on Feb. 13 in six-party talks in Beijing. Mr. Paulson is said to have agreed with Miss Rice because he does not want to risk his good relations with Chinese officials.
"I think we are getting to the point where we know how this is going to be solved," Christopher R. Hill, the top U.S. negotiator with the North, said yesterday in a speech to the Pittsburgh World Affairs Council.
"Currently, what we are doing is to assist in ways that we can to allow the North Koreans to put those accounts into another bank, where they can make use of those accounts."
Mr. Hill avoided mention of any particular bank, but predicted that the issue will be resolved "in the very near future."
"This time, I think we really do have something," he said.

He added that the United States was going to great lengths to find a new home for the $25 million "because we did agree to resolve" the issue as part of the six-nation talks, which also include China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
Pyongyang promised to close down Yongbyon by April 14 but missed the deadline, saying it will do nothing until the money leaves BDA and arrives safely in another bank.
"The bank accounts are available," Mr. Hill said. "They can go withdraw the money in the local currency in Macao. They want to be able to move it to another bank. I think that was very much coming from the hard-liners" in Pyongyang.
North Korea committed in principle to abandoning its nuclear weapons programs in a Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement with the other six-party members. Soon afterward, Washington alerted the Macao authorities about its money-laundering and counterfeiting concerns, and they froze the accounts in question.
The State Department used the issue as leverage to force North Korea to return to the six-party talks late last year after an 18-month boycott.
Having promised to resolve the BDA matter as part of the subsequent Feb. 13 agreement, Washington officially blacklisted BDA in March and then dropped its objection to the release of the $25 million. But it grossly underestimated the complexity of making the money available to Pyongyang.
"The problem is, it has been difficult to take this money from a bank that has essentially been sanctioned by the U.S. as a money-laundering concern," Mr. Hill said yesterday. "And it has been difficult, frankly, through a lot of technical issues having to do with banks, to move the money to a different bank."
Any bank that would accept the transfer in effect would be doing business with BDA, facing potential U.S. penalties. The Treasury so far has been unable to satisfy any third-country institution that it can safely handle the money, and diplomats said it might be easier to grant an exemption to an American bank.
"If there is any requirement for an opinion from the Treasury Department as to whether or not this is a transaction that the financial institutions involved would feel comfortable doing, then the Treasury Department will take a look at that, see what it is that they can do," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Wednesday.
"The main issue is to get BDA over and done with, to have it completed so we can get back to the six-party talks and focus on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," he said.

U.S. bank helps clear hurdle to shut reactor?-?World?-?The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

国内法にのっとり処理 テロ支援解除で米国務長官

　４月２７日の日米首脳会談で、同席した米国のライス国務長官が北朝鮮をテロ支援国家指定から解除する問題について「米国内法にのっとり適切に処理する」と説明していたことが１２日、分かった。解除の是非では日本人拉致問題も検討材料とするものの、最終的にはあくまで米国が主体的に判断するとの立場を明確にした発言とみられる。日本政府筋が明らかにした。
　ただ、首脳会談でブッシュ大統領は安倍晋三首相に「拉致問題も（指定解除作業の）考慮に入れる」と明言し、日本の立場に配慮する姿勢を見せた。別の日本政府関係者は「（米国は）指定解除の方向には全然なっていない」と指摘したが、拉致問題がどの程度考慮されるか、米政府の対応が注視される。

河北新報ニュース 国内法にのっとり処理　テロ支援解除で米国務長官