North Korea Has BDA Funds: Reactor Shutdown Soon?
by Richardson ~ June 14th, 2007. Filed under: Diplomacy, Economics, Engagement, Nuclear Proliferation, Six-Party Talks.
Although unfrozen since at least 10 April, North Korea just today – over two months later – took possession of the $25 million:
North Korea today took possession of about $25 million in funds previously frozen by a Treasury Department investigation, potentially clearing the way for Pyongyang to fulfill its commitment to shut down an aging nuclear reactor.
[. . .]
“Basically all of it has been transferred,” the Macao government said in a statement yesterday. “For Macao, this incident has come to a conclusion.”
And the diplomats (at least the non-North Korean ones) are ready to get back to the 13 February agreement (DOC):
“The ball is in North Korea’s court and we have to see whether it will promptly implement the first-phase measures agreed on February 13 in Beijing,” said a diplomatic source in Tokyo after news of the funds transfer.
And we’ve (the U.S.) subjugated our legal processes and laws to arrive at this victory of diplomacy and engagement:
Russia said Wednesday it would allow one of its banks to transfer the funds if Washington gave written guarantees it would not fall foul of U.S. sanctions against North Korea.
[. . .]
“The guarantees were in writing and move our bank out of the way of any possible American sanctions,” he said.
What’s next? Now North Korea must shutdown the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and, “a list of all its nuclear programs.” This declaration is where the next issue will arise, probably over what the DPRK will admit to when it comes to the highly enriched uranium program (HEU) we know they had.
But, like the BDA fiasco, they may surprise everyone by delaying for months by withholding information on their plutonium-based nuclear program as well. Either way, I fully expect North Korea to renege; and the Bush administration’s reaction to the next reneging is critical.
June 14th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Pyongyang will not shut the thing down. I will not hold my breath.
June 14th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
I think they might, if this is correct.
June 14th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
it’s only 25 million. i don’t see what the big deal is.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Ghola,
I agree that the amount is not a big deal, but the principle is. At first we (the U.S.) only agreed to unfreeze the funds in BDA, but then North Korea realized that they could not use the international banking system to transfer the funds, and the problems began; no one wanted to have anything to do with those tainted funds, and they still won’t without a written guarantee from the U.S., as in the case of the unnamed Russian bank. That basically required breaking U.S. law to make an exception for the North Korea funds. That’s the big deal.
This may or may not cause further issues, even though completely unrelated (banking, that is) to the Six-Party Talks.
I am withholding judgment of the Bush administration (yeah, I know, they are so relieved about that) on this issue until the HEU issue comes up. If they don’t go for the jugular after North Korea clearly reneges for the second time, they’ll get nothing but negative press from me.
June 15th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
[...] also highly recommend you read other views on this matter over at DPRK Studies and One Free Korea. Also make sure you read this Front Page Magazine piece from notable Korean [...]