hankyoreh

The United States is considering the partial lifting of its financial curbs on a Macau bank at the center of its standoff with North Korea, in a bid to push forward the six-way talks on ending the communist regime's nuclear weapons program, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday.

If the report is true, it would mark a turnaround in the U.S. position and raise hopes for a breakthrough in its protracted row with Pyongyang over Banco Delta Asia (BDA). The two sides are set to resume discussions between their financial experts in Beijing on Tuesday prior to a new round of nuclear talks expected to be held early next month.

The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted the BDA in September 2005, accusing it of serving as a conduit for the North's counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and other illicit financing activities. The measure has frozen US$24 million in Pyongyang's accounts at the bank, as well as effectively cut off the cash-strapped regime's access to the international banking system.

North Korea has demanded the financial restrictions be lifted as a condition for progress on the nuclear issue, although the U.S. contends they are not linked.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, however, said U.S. officials have shown signs of changing their stance.

Citing congressional sources in Washington, the newspaper said the U.S. is considering unfreezing more than half of the North Korean money at the BDA.

The U.S. Treasury views at least $13 million as not related to the North's illegal financial activities, and the State Department, eager for progress in the nuclear talks, is persuading the Treasury to ease restrictions on the "clean" money, according to the newspaper, one of the most influential media outlets in Japan.

The BDA issue has proved to be one of the biggest obstacles to progress in the six-way talks.

Financial specialists from North Korea and the U.S. had a two-day session in Beijing last month on the sidelines of the six-party nuclear talks but the both meetings ended in deadlock, with the North's nuclear delegates prioritizing the BDA issue.

The Treasury announced last week that Daniel Glaser, deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, will meet his North Korean counterparts again from Tuesday.

"Glaser plans to continue discussions with North Korea on the international community's concerns about illicit financial conduct, globally recognized standards for operating as a responsible member of the financial community, and the financial measures taken by the United States to combat illicit financial flows," the Treasury said.

Tokyo, Jan. 28 (Yonhap News)