The Bank of China (BOC) in Beijing refused to accept the
transfer of frozen funds from Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA),
said chief Russian negotiator Alexander Losyukov.
Losyukov said the six-party talks achieved no results on March
21 due to the frozen funds issue between North Korea and the
US.
Losyukov said he would leave for Moscow on Thursday to make
preparations for President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit. Russian
special envoy Vladimir Rakhmanin would then pick up the job as
chief negotiator.
Losyukov said he was cautious about what results could be
finally gained during this round of talks, adding that it was
possible for all the parties to have further discussions on other
issues only when some breakthrough could be made on the frozen
funds issue.
The frozen funds issue came under spotlight when an account held
by North Korea was frozen in 2005, after the US Treasury Department
suspected the BDA of helping North Korea launder money and ordered
American financial institutions to suspend business ties with the
bank.
The US on Monday agreed to transfer the funds of US$25 million
frozen at BDA to a North Korean account at BOC in Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2007)
