[imText1]Neither stop printing counterfeit dollar bills, nor return to the six-party talks
Last year September 19, in the second round of the fourth six-party talks, participants reached a joint statement, which elucidated abandonment of all North Korean nuclear weapons development program, energy aid to NK and normalization of the U.S.-N.K. relationship.
A year has passed since then. What has North Korea done for fulfillment of the promises in 9.19 Joint Statement?
On the very next day of the adoption of joint statement, North Korea started making irrational claim. NK asked for ‘first light-water reactor, then abandonment of nuclear weapons program.’ In the Joint Statement, North Korea’s nuclear weapon give up is stated before the mention of offering light-water reactor. There was no disagreement among the rest of the six-party talks participating nations on North Korea’s abandonment of nuclear weapons program and return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to be carried out in the first place.
Pyongyang, however, dragged on light-water reactor issue. North Korea, in fact, had no intention of fulfilling the 9.19 Joint Statement while keeping its traditional strategy of reversal of unfavorable agreement through procrastination and supplement of new claim.
Added were North Korea’s illegal activities such as printing of counterfeit dollar bills, money laundering, and drug and tobacco-trafficking, which were followed by U.S. financial sanction. The sanction was solely a legal issue, not related to fulfillment of the Joint Statement. Nonetheless, North Korea vowed not to come back to the roundtable of talks unless financial sanction was rescinded.
So far is the midterm result of the six-party talks since last year’s September 19th. In other words, NK’s obstinacy hinders the promised process of the 9.19 Joint Statement.
North Korea is arguing that freezing of North Korean funds at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) counters with the 9.19 Joint Statement’s principle of peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and DPRK. Washington, however, is urging its counterpart in Pyongyang to unconditionally come back to the multilateral talks’ structure since the six-party talks and BDA issue are totally unrelated.
All the participants of the six-party talks recognize irrelevance between counterfeit dollar bill printing issue and nuclear weapon program. Only within the boundary of law, current financial sanction could be solved. Only North Korea is dealing with the six-party talks with political purpose.
Washington’s freezing of North Korean assets at BDA account is a huge blow to Kim Jong Il by cutting financial connection of Pyongyang with other countries. North Korea, however, is trying to evade its international criminal activities by linking BDA sanction issue and retrieval of the six-party talks.
Illegal behaviors are to be solved with legal proceedings, and the 9.19 Joint Statement is to be carried out separately. Yet North Korea interprets the situation with its ‘totalitarian’ perspective.
Moreover, there are estimates of North Korea’s loss up to be more than 2 billion dollars as a result of NK’s refusal to return to the six-party talks, while only 24 million dollars of asset is frozen.
Then why is Pyongyang so stubborn with 24 million dollars at BDA bank account?
Party subsidiaries that are responsible to foreign currency earning are Korean Workers’ Party Office #39 and #38. The office #39 particularly manages Kim Jong Il’s personal private funds. Therefore the frozen 24 million dollars at the Macau bank is Kim’s private fund, as well. In North Korean regime’s perspective, prosecution of Kim himself is regarded as belligerence against the state.
In addition, North Korea considers comeback to the six-party talks before rescission of financial sanction as admission of printing counterfeit bills.
Thus Pyongyang keeps denying production of fake dollar bills and insists on cancellation of financial sanction in order to resume the talks. North Korea seems entrapped in its own fallacy of logic.
However, the fundamental reason of North Korea’s refusal to comeback to the roundtable is the six-party talks’ purpose, which aims at renouncement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Since Kim Jong Il regime seeks foreign aid without abandoning its nuclear warheads, NK is in unfavorable situation in the six-party talks. North Korea’s intention of negotiation differs drastically with the remaining five countries. So far explained why the 9.19 communique cannot be fulfilled on time.
If Kim Jong Il regime sincerely gives up nuclear weapons development and hopes to receive some recompense, the 9.19 Joint Statement might have been accomplished already. Unfortunately, Kim’s intention is not so.
Last July’s missile launch also turns out to be a total fiasco since even Moscow and Beijing approved the UN resolution criticizing North Korea’s missile performance.
By the first anniversary of the 9.19 Joint Statement, North Korea has blundered more than ever.
