SEOUL, Jun 10 (AP): Russia has accepted a US request that a Russian bank help end a stalemate over frozen North Korean funds that has halted progress in the North's nuclear disarmament, a news report said Sunday.
Moscow agreed to a US request that a Russian bank accept the North Korean funds via a US financial institution before they are moved to North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official.
North Korea has refused to move on its pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor until it receives $25 million in funds that were frozen in a Macau bank.
The money has been freed for release, but North Korea has not withdrawn it, apparently seeking to prove the funds are now clean by receiving them through an electronic bank transfer.
But other banks apparently have balked at touching the funds, which the US alleged were tied to money laundering and counterfeiting by North Korea, throwing the disarmament process into limbo for months.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said close consultations were under way among parties involved in the disarmament talks on various ways to resolve the financial dispute, but he declined to confirm the Yonhap report.
Russian Embassy officials in Seoul could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.
To carry out the international money transfers, the US is expected to temporarily suspend its rules banning American banks from dealing with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, Yonhap said, quoting another unidentified South Korean official.
Russia aids US on DPRK
FE Team | Published: June 11, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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