Macau authorities are prepared to unblock frozen North Korean funds, the US Treasury Department said yesterday, possibly paving the way for a breakthrough in an agreement to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The Macau government said it was aware of the US Treasury statement and that it would work with all parties involved.
"Simultaneously, it expects all parties concerned to come up with appropriate and responsible arrangements respectively," the government said on its Web site.
A call to a spokesman of the Banco Delta Asia, the bank where the funds are being held, was not immediately returned yesterday. The lender had been blacklisted by Washington for allegedly helping the North launder money and its North Korean accounts were frozen.
Pyongyang has refused to move forward on a February agreement under which it will close its main nuclear reactor in return for economic aid and political concessions until the US$25 million is returned to the North. The deal was put together by nuclear disarmament negotiators from the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia.
"The United States understands that the Macau authorities are prepared to unblock all North Korean-related accounts currently frozen in Banco Delta Asia," the Treasury Department said in a statement. "The United States would support a decision by the Macau authorities to unblock the accounts in question."
The statement, released in an e-mail before dawn yesterday, did not give any other details. It comes ahead of a Saturday deadline by which North Korea was to take initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear program, including closing its main nuclear reactor, in exchange for the aid.
But the dispute over the funds has stalled the process, with North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan saying this week that his government would allow UN nuclear inspectors into the country -- to check whether it is meeting its commitments -- only after the funds are unfrozen.
The US' nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill has said the financial problem would be a stumbling block to meeting the deadline.
North Korea only agreed to shut down the reactor after the US promised to resolve the financial issue within 30 days -- which Washington failed to do because the fund transfer has been mired in technical complications.
Also see story:
Japan extends sanctions on N Korea by six months
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique