US talks tough on N Korea

Published on June 9, 2009 by brooks | This story has been viewed 266 views

The US is moving to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea over the Stalinist regime’s recent nuclear and missile tests, with Barack Obama warning that Washington would not continue a policy of capitulating in the face of provocative acts by Pyongyang.

“We are not intending to continue a policy of rewarding provocation,” the US president said on Saturday during a visit to Normandy to commemorate the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

To that end, the US is seeking to increase pressure by imposing informal financial sanctions alongside efforts at the United Nations Security Council.

US officials are seeking to dissuade Asian banks – particularly from China – from doing business with Pyongyang, in a similar push to Washington’s drive to stop financial institutions from working with Iran.

North Korea earned international opprobrium – and unprecedented criticism from Beijing – last month by conducting a nuclear test on the heels of a long-range missile in April.

“We are going to take a very hard look at how we move forward on these issues, and I don’t think that there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilising the region and we just react in the same ways,” Mr Obama said.

Some experts believe North Korea has ratcheted up tensions in an effort to generate more leverage for future negotiations with the US and other members of the six-party talks aimed at ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons.

Other analysts believe the provocative acts are for domestic consumption as Kim Jong-Il attempts to shore up support for Kim Jong-woon, his youngest son, whom intelligence agencies believe has been anointed as his father’s successor.

James Steinberg, US deputy secretary of state, last week visited Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing to discuss ways to put pressure on Pyongyang, including pushing Asian financial institutions, particularly Chinese banks, to halt transactions with North Korea.

The US also wants to identify any banks linked to illicit North Korea behaviour.

In 2005, the Bush administration blacklisted Macao-based Banco Delta Asia for involvement with North Korean counterfeiting and smuggling activity. That move, which led to the freezing of $24m in North Korean accounts, increased pressure on Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks.

Dennis Wilder, a North Korea expert at the Brookings Institution who was the top White House Asia official until January, said the Obama team was looking for “one more Banco Delta Asia”, stressing that China was key to putting pressure on Pyongyang.

Possibly Related Posts:


Filed under: China

You must be logged in to post a comment.