North Korea has rejected New York as a venue for talks on US financial sanctions which it insists must be lifted before any further nuclear negotiations, a South Korean newspaper reported yesterday.
Chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan was speaking on Saturday, the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported, the day after a week of six-party nuclear talks ended in Beijing without any apparent progress.
The talks -- the first for 13 months -- closed without even setting a date for the next round. They aim to persuade Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear programs in return for aid and security guarantees.
US Treasury and North Korean officials held two days of discussions on the sidelines about the US banking curbs imposed for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering, but reached no agreement.
US officials said they hope to meet again in New York next month.
"We have no intention to go to New York. The two sides should find another place," Kim was quoted as telling the paper in an interview in Beijing.
Asked when the next six-party round may be held, Kim added: "The sanctions issue should be resolved first."
The US blacklisted Macau's Banco Delta Asia in September last year, saying it suspected that US$24 million in North Korean accounts was linked to counterfeiting or money laundering.
The accounts have been frozen and other Asian banks have taken similar moves.
North Korea boycotted the six-party talks -- which link the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia -- for over a year in protest. After conducting its first nuclear test in October, it agreed to return on condition the banking issue is "discussed and settled."
Kim accused US Treasury officials of not being serious.
"The US didn't even offer evidence that North Korea committed illegal activities," he was quoted as saying.
"The US wasted time, insisting that the BDA issue is a legal matter. Sanctions should be resolved through political decision," he added.
Kim also reiterated that the North would not begin nuclear negotiations until the BDA issue is settled. "Once the US lifts its financial sanctions, we can discuss freezing nuclear activities, not doing it right away," he said.
"The US wants to see North Korea freezing its nuclear facilities by lifting its financial sanctions alone, which is unacceptable," he added.
The negotiator also repeated demands for construction of a light-water reactor in exchange for suspending its existing reactor, along with interim energy aid.
The US and its allies reached a deal with North Korea in 1994 to supply fuel oil and light-water reactors, which are less vulnerable to proliferation, in exchange for a freeze. The deal fell apart in 2002 when the US accused the North of running a secret uranium enrichment program.
North Korea warned the US on Saturday of retaliation if it stepped up sanctions after the six-party deadlock, saying its armed forces "are not afraid of war."
North Korea blew up sections of roads in its own territory that are part of links once used to connect the southern part of the peninsula with the north, in a show of defiance after it accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang. North Korea detonated bombs north of its eastern and western borders at around noon yesterday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. South Korea’s military later fired off warning shots within its border, said the JCS, which also confirmed there were no reports of damage in South Korea from the detonations. A video released by the South Korean
It is usually a serene two-and-a-half-hour ride on Japan’s famously efficient bullet train, but on Saturday, the journey quickly descended into a zombie apocalypse, with passengers screaming in terror. Organizers of the adrenaline-filled trip, less than two weeks before Halloween, touted it as the world’s first haunted house experience on a running Shinkansen. On board one chartered car of the Shinkansen, about 40 thrill-seekers were ready to brave an encounter with the living dead between Tokyo and the western metropolis of Osaka. The eerie experience was inspired by the hit 2016 South Korean action-horror movie Train to Busan, in which a father and
A member of chart-topping K-pop group NewJeans yesterday tearfully testified to South Korean lawmakers as part of an inquiry into workplace harassment, amid a boardroom drama over her super producer. In recent years, South Korea’s K-pop industry has become a global juggernaut powered by the success of groups like BTS, but domestically it is known for imposing strict standards and controls on fledgling stars. Rising K-pop idols are expected to adhere to their powerful agency’s behavior and appearance guidelines, with many stars describing receiving extreme backlash from fans over perceived mistakes in their personal lives, for example dating. Hanni, 20, who is
IRANIAN THREATS: Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami said that it would be a ‘mistake’ for Israel to attack Iran and if it did ‘we will strike you again painfully’ Israel yesterday bombed a Syrian coastal city, while the US conducted multiple strikes on targets in Yemen nearly a month into Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza all belong to the so-called “axis of resistance” led by Iran, which on Oct. 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel. Israel has vowed to retaliate for the strike. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami yesterday said in a speech that Tehran would hit Israel “painfully” if it attacks Iranian targets. “If you make a mistake and attack our targets, whether in the region or in