Much of NKorea's frozen Macau funds legal: US expert (AFP)

[Eugene]

Much of NKorea's frozen Macau funds legal: US expert

by Jun Kwanwoo Thu Nov 2, 3:57 AM ET

SEOUL (AFP) - US Treasury investigators have found that up to half
the North Korean money frozen in a Macau bank is from legal sources,
South Korean media reports.

The future of six-nation talks on scrapping the North's nuclear
programme depends on progress in unfreezing these and other funds,
according to Pyongyang, which staged its first atomic test last month.

-snip-

Oberdorfer, who could not immediately be reached for comment, said
there were growing calls in Washington to unfreeze the legal funds
but the US Treasury Department has yet to decide how to handle the
issue.

-snip-

Washington effectively froze the funds by blacklisting the Macau bank
in September 2005, almost the same day those talks made an apparent
breakthrough. It said they were the suspected proceeds of counterfeiting
dollars and other illicit activities by the North.

North Korea boycotted the talks for a year in protest at Washington's
freeze and at a larger crackdown on accounts elsewhere in Asia.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061102/ts_afp/nkoreanuclearweaponsusfundsskorea_061102073846

[bemildred]

1. Legal, smeagal. We have government of men, not of laws.

Especially in the international sphere, where we do as we like while performing a posturing charade of morality.