North Korea Threatened by U.S. Sanctions

NTI: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reportedly said during a state visit to China last month that U.S. financial penalties could cause his regime to collapse, Agence France-Presse reported Saturday.

Kyodo News quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Kim made the remarks when Chinese President Hu Jintao suggested that Pyongyang stop insisting on removal of the sanctions as a condition for resumption of multilateral nuclear disarmament talks.

“If we do such a thing, our government will collapse,” Kim reportedly replied (Agence France-Presse/Gulf Times, Feb. 11).

North Korean officials have indicated their willingness to resolve the dispute over the country’s alleged financial crimes, South Korean lawmakers who visited Pyongyang last week told the Korea Herald.

“I’ve received the impression that the North is also willing to deal with the issue sincerely,” said Lim Chae-jung of the ruling Uri Party.

North Korean officials on Friday denied any involvement in such activities and promised to “actively” cooperate in combating money laundering, the Herald.

Elsewhere, a U.S. official said China has urged North Korea to stop its illicit financial activities, the Yonhap News Agency reported yesterday.

A visiting U.S. delegation last month showed Chinese officials evidence of Pyongyang’s illicit transactions with Macau’s Banco Delta Asia, said the official. Beijing in turn told North Korea it must “stop these activities.”

As Macau is a special administrative region of China, Chinese authorities are concerned that the case could damage Beijing’s financial credibility, according to a diplomatic source.

“From China’s strategic point of view, North Korea’s nuclear problem takes a back seat to Beijing’s long-term goal of joining the international economic system,” the source told Yonhap. “The BDA’s implication in money laundering would reflect badly on … such ambitions” (Yonhap News Agency, Feb. 12).