By Chung Min-uck
Will South Korea join a U.S.-led effort to strangle North Korea’s cash flow?
Foreign ministry officials said that the country has not been asked to join, but declined to comment further.
This tactic proved to be effective in 2005 when Washington sanctioned Banco Delta Asia in Macau, the key conduit of Pyongyang’s cash flow.
As a result, the North came out for what were considered at that time as serious talks with the outside world.
A senior United States official said Sunday that Washington was tracing funds of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his family.
The move is in line with the latest United Nations sanctions imposed that tightened restrictions on financial dealings to prevent the regime from further developing nuclear weapons and missiles.
“The U.S. is very actively looking for where that money may be and if it identifies where it is, it will do everything it can to deprive Kim’s family access to those funds,” said David Cohen, U.S. Treasury sanctions chief, speaking on Voice of America (VoA). “Washington is looking for ways to intensify the financial pressure on North Korea, most importantly, to restrict its ability to finance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”
Reportedly, the hidden funds amount to between $3 billion million to $5 billion, saved in various banks around the world, and are largely used to finance the Kim family’s expenditure on luxury items and gifts given to the power elite in the North.
His answer came in response to a question regarding media reports that Kim Jong-il, the former North Korean leader and Kim’s late father, had money worth over $3 billion hidden in Swiss bank accounts.
This is the first time the U.S. government has admitted it is tracing Kim’s funds.
Cohen is in charge of the U.S. Treasury Department’s campaign against money laundering and financial crimes by proliferators, international terrorist organizations and narcotics traffickers.
He urged Asian nations to implement the U.S sanction imposed on the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea, Pyongyang’s primary foreign exchange bank, which bans U.S. individuals and banks from having transactions with it.
Most of North Korea’s financial transactions are known to take place via China, the North’s only ally and its main economic partner.
Cohen, in the latest interview with the VoA, said it remains to be seen whether China will fully implement sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council following North Korea’s third nuclear test in February.