North Korea Bank Settlement Taking Too Long Says South Korea

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South Korea's foreign minister Song Min-Soon. Photo courtesy AFP.South Korea joins initiative to fight nuclear terrorism
Seoul (AFP) May 23 - South Korea has joined a new US-Russian initiative to fight the threat of nuclear terrorism, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. "The country decided to join the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism as of May 22, depositing its approval letters with the United States and Russia, co-chairs of the initiative," it said in a statement. It said South Korea expects membership to help protect its civilian nuclear facilities and improve exchanges of information with key nuclear powers. The initiative, first launched in July 2006 at a summit of the Group of Eight countries, aims largely to impose tighter control on nuclear materials and illegal trade in such substances. A total of 32 countries -- including the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and China -- have joined the initiative, with South Korea being the 32nd member, the ministry said. The International Atomic Energy Agency is joining the initiative as an observer.

by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) May 23, 2007
Negotiatiors are moving towards settlement of a banking dispute blocking North Korea's nuclear disarmament but cannot say when it will be resolved, South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday. "The process of resolving technical problems is moving toward the direction we are aiming at, but its pace is not as fast as we had hoped," Song Min-Soon told reporters.

"I think it is too early to say when it will be resolved." Song said he and his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice agreed to continue working to settle the issue soon. "I just talked to Secretary of State Rice on the phone and discussed various efforts and ways to speed up the resolution of the issue," he said.

Song's comments were more cautious than those of chief US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill, who said in Bangkok Tuesday he is hopeful of a solution very soon.

North Korea has promised to start shutting down its nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel oil under an accord reached at six-nation talks in February.

But Pyongyang, which carried out its first nuclear test last October, made progress conditional on settlement of the dispute over its accounts in a Macau bank.

The accounts totalling 25 million dollars were frozen in Banco Delta Asia in 2005 under US money-laundering and counterfeiting sanctions.

The United States lifted the restrictions on the accounts in March. But the North has had problems arranging a transfer via a foreign bank since banks are unwilling to touch apparently tainted money.

The US-based Wachovia bank said last week it was considering a State Department request to help process the transfer.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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Amid Tensions With Tehran, US Displays Naval Power In Gulf

Washington (AFP) May 23, 2007
The US Navy kicked off its largest display of naval power in the Gulf in years Wednesday, amid rising tensions with Iran over its clandestine support for Iraqi extremists and unchecked nuclear program. Two US aircraft carriers sailed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf along with a helicopter carrier and amphibious assault ships carrying an estimated 2,200 marines, the US Navy said.

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