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Banco Delta Asia Releases $20 Million of Frozen North Korean Funds
By Brian Orsak
printNorth Korean funds frozen at a Macau bank have been released four months after the nation agreed to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor as part of negotiations with five other countries including the United States. About $25 million was frozen by Banco Delta Asia in 2005 after the U.S. Treasury said it was tied to money laundering and other crimes. The funds were being used as a bargaining chip in denuclearization talks. North Korea refused to close the nuclear reactor until the money was released. U.S. officials agreed to release the funds, but banks had hesitated to facilitate the...
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Banks in China, Southeast Asia and Europe will soon see their compliance duties get tougher under new U.N. sanctions measures aimed at stifling North Korea's nuclear arms program, say analysts.
U.S. lawmakers will introduce sanctions legislation targeting North Korea's use of criminal proceeds and third-country banks that finance its nuclear program, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday.
Although American financial institutions and the North Korean government rarely cross paths, U.S. officials have numerous avenues to sanction the Asian country for its latest nuclear weapons test, say attorneys.
The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions arm blacklisted Korea Daesong Bank Thursday for its alleged ties to a branch of the North Korean communist government.
The United States expanded economic sanctions measures against North Korea Monday, blacklisting 12 entities and individuals and issuing an executive order under which new prohibitions can be enacted.
New U.S. sanctions targeting North Korea, including a likely block on assets tied to the nation's top officials, will require the cooperation from Chinese monetary authorities to be effective, say analysts.
Bank of America has cut its ties to North Korea after the nation topped an intergovernmental blacklist of countries with poor anti-money laundering regimes, according to a bank compliance official.
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a North Korean bank and the president of another financial institution Friday for allegedly helping the country's communist government develop its weapons programs.
The United Nations Security Council Friday unanimously approved strengthening trade and economic sanctions against North Korea, including the reinstitution of financial freezes passed but not acted on in 2006.
Economic sanctions expected against North Korea over its test of a nuclear bomb will likely include companies in China, South Korea, Thailand and Russia linked to trade with the communist nation, say consultants.
A recent United Nations resolution against North Korea will bolster sanctions against the country but may fall short of results achieved by a 2006 asset freeze, say observers.
The Bush Administration removed North Korea from its state sponsors of terrorism list Saturday, a decision likely to have little impact on economic sanctions against the country.
Ron King, vice president and chief anti-money laundering officer for Toronto-based Scotiabank, talks with reporter Larissa Bernardes about how banks can detect the financial transactions of weapons facilitators, the subject of an upcoming FATF report.
A decision by the Bush administration to remove North Korea from its state sponsors of terror list will have little impact on how financial institutions and other companies deal with the Asian country.
The bill states that North Korea cannot be removed from the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list unless it shows it has stopped helping other terrorism sponsors develop nuclear weapons.
Treasury officials have collected enough information to quickly resolve a disagreement involving Banco Delta Asia, a Treasury Department official said. Officials last month began talks with North Korea over its alleged involvement in counterfeiting and laundering money through the bank.
The talks focused on North Korea's alleged involvement in counterfeiting and its efforts to launder money through Banco Delta Asia.
The quality of suspicious activity reports targeting terrorism is improving as the volume decreases, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.