Chief US negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill on
Tuesday night said the current pace of the six-party talks is slow
but he is confident that the BDA (Banco Delta Asia) issue would be
resolved.
Hill depicted the second day of the sixth round of the six-party
talks as "business-like".
Hill said he is not too concerned about the BDA, but he is
concerned about what's the meaning of the disablement, how to
disable and what to disable.
Hill said that North Korea focuses too much on the issue of the
money, saying BDA is not a political issue but a banking issue, "I
hope North Korea can get the money as soon as possible"
Hill said he had a one-hour meeting with the chief North Korean
negotiator on the afternoon of March 20. He also met bilaterally
with delegates from China, Japan and South Korea.
According to Hill, the delegations to the talks would go to the
obligation of the disablement and go to the issue of next phase on
March 21.
The six-party talks, grouping China, North Korea, the United
States, South Korea, Japan and Russia, entered the second day on
Tuesday. China had bilateral consultations with all the other five
parties to the six-party talks. However, a previously planned
meeting among the chief negotiators was cancelled due to a
stalemate on dealing with the North Korea's frozen capital at the
Banco Delta Asia in Macao.
Russian chief delegate Alexander Losyukov said, " North Korea
said its frozen funds in the BDA have not been transferred into the
Bank of China in Beijing so far".
North Korea has asked unfreezing a US$25 million capital since
2005 when the United States accused BDA of helping North Korea to
launder money and froze a North Korean account at the BDA.
(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2007)
