NORTH KOREA MAY WIN BACK CASH BUT NOT ITS REPUTATION
North Korea hopes that its financial problems will be solved with the long-awaited return of its funds frozen in a tiny Macao bank. It wants the move to be taken to show that there is no danger in doing business with a state accused of counterfeiting and money laundering.For its part, the US believes that the return of the cash will remove a stumbling block to progress on the real issue: North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, which has been obscured amid Pyongyang's insistence on resolving the saga of the cash held by Banco Delta Asia.
The US Treasury says it has found evidence of widespread wrongdoing at BDA and has ordered US banks to sever ties with it, but has left responsibility for releasing the frozen assets to Macao authorities.
The dispute, which centres on $25m frozen in North Korea-linked accounts at BDA, has handicapped the February 13 de-nuclearisation deal.
In an effort to avoid the risk of the deal falling at the first hurdle, US officials have been “cold calling” American banks on North Korea's behalf and have been declaring for weeks that they are on the brink of facilitating the return of the cash.
One US diplomat said: “We've done everything we possibly can to facilitate the final resolution of the BDA issue.”
However, big international banks, including Citibank and HSBC, said they had not even been approached about transferring the funds.
North Korea is insisting on having the money transferred through the international financial system – and preferably through a US bank – to exonerate the state.
Washington's actions against BDA prompted banks in China and Vietnam to cease to do business with North Korea for fear of also being targeted.
Ironically, North Korean officials suggested at a meeting in March last year that the money could be returned through a US bank as a way to resolve the issue.
Evans Revere, a former senior State Department diplomat who was at the meeting, said: “I thought it was a provocative but interesting idea and I passed it on to Washington. It would send a powerful signal to North Korea that we were prepared to allow them to participate in the banking community in a normal way.
“And if your concern is that these guys are engaged in illicit activity, what better way to monitor them than through the US banking system,” Mr Revere said.
But the way in which the matter is being resolved – with the return of all the money – could make matters worse, not better, because it means that none of North Korea's business has been declared legitimate.
The Treasury was prepared to return about half the money – the portion deemed to have been above board – but North Korea insisted on receiving all of it and Christopher Hill, the US's chief nuclear negotiator, convinced the White House to allow all $25m to be released.
Scott Snyder, a Korea specialist at the Asia Foundation, said: “They should have made a differentiation between legal and illegal money. The really hostile act is that North Korea is now branded a criminal entity – banks can't and won't do business with North Korea and it will be really hard for North Korea to get back into the international banking system.”
Indeed, the damage to North Korea's reputation, which was hardly stellar to begin with, has been done.
When it allowed the return of the cash in March, the Treasury repeated its initial allegations that North Korea was trading in counterfeit US dollars and cigarettes, and might have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in cash through the bank.
“The problem that North Korea faces is that a lot of people now recognise the reputational risk in dealing with North Korea,” said a Treasury official. “North Korea business is very small and the profit is not great, so why would any bank want to subject themselves to that?”
Furthermore, the special treatment undermines attempts to turn North Korea into a normal member of the international community.
Mr Snyder said: “If these dollars get through, it undermines the whole banking system because it shows there can be exceptions. Now North Korea is the bastard child of the international financial world.”
朝鲜方面希望，随着其被冻结在澳门汇业银行的资金经过长久等待后获得返还，它所面临的各种金融问题将得以解决。它希望以此表明，与一个被控造假钞和洗黑钱的国家打交道并不危险。
而对美国而言，这笔资金的返还，将移除阻碍真正问题取得进展的一块绊脚石。这个问题就是朝鲜的核武计划。由于朝鲜政府坚持要求解决冻结资金问题，这个真正问题被掩盖了。
美国财政部表示，它发现汇业银行存在大量行为不当的证据，并勒令美国各家银行断绝与它的往来，但将这笔被冻结资产的解冻责任交给了澳门当局。
这一纠纷的核心，是汇业银行的朝鲜相关账户中被冻结的2500万美元。这一争议已经成为今年2月13日达成的弃核协议取得进展的绊脚石。
为了避免该协议在第一个障碍面前折戟沉沙，美国官员一直代表朝鲜向美国各银行打电话，而且数周来一直声称他们即将促成此笔资金的返还。
一位美国外交官表示：“为了促成汇业银行问题的最终解决，我们已经竭尽全力。”
然而，包括花旗银行(Citibank)和汇丰银行(HSBC)在内的大型国际银行表示，甚至还没有人就转移这笔资金的问题与它们接洽。
朝鲜一直坚持应通过国际金融体系转移这笔资金，最好是通过一家美国银行，以证明朝鲜的清白。
美国政府针对汇业银行所采取的行动，导致中国和越南的银行中止了与朝鲜的业务往来，担心也会受到美国的制裁。
具有讽刺意味的是，朝鲜官员在去年3月召开的一次会议上建议，作为解决问题的一种途径，这笔资金可以通过一家美国银行予以返还。
出席此次会议的美国国务院(State Department)前任高级外交官李维亚(Evans Revere)表示：“我认为这是一种颇有挑衅性但很有趣的想法，我把它转告给了华盛顿。这将向朝鲜传递一个强有力的信号，即我们愿意允许他们以一种正常的方式，参与到国际银行体系中来。”
李维亚表示：“如果你担心这些人参与不法活动，那么除了通过美国银行体系对其实施监督以外，没有其它更好的方法。”
但是，按照目前的返还全部资金的解决方法，可能导致事情变得更糟，而不是更好，因为它意味着没有一项朝鲜业务被宣示为合法。
美国财政部曾准备返还这笔资金中大约一半的数额——这部分被认为是“正当”的——但朝鲜坚持要求收回全部资金，朝核谈判美国首席谈判代表克里斯托弗•希尔(Christopher Hill)说服白宫允许解冻全部2500万美元。
亚洲基金会(Asia Foundation)朝鲜问题专家斯考特•施奈德(Scott Snyder)表示：“他们应区别对待合法与非法资金。真正的敌对行动是，朝鲜现在被打上了犯罪实体的烙印——银行不能、也不会与朝鲜打交道，对朝鲜而言，实在难以回到国际银行体系。”
的确，对朝鲜声誉的损害已经形成——尽管它原先的声誉就不怎么样。
当美国财政部今年3月允许返还这笔资金时，它重申了自己的最初指控：朝鲜从事过伪造美钞和香烟的交易，而且通过汇业银行从事过数亿美元的洗钱活动。
“朝鲜面临的问题是，目前许多人都承认，与朝鲜打交道要冒损害声誉的风险，”一位美国财务部官员表示，“朝鲜业务规模非常小，而且利润也不丰厚，银行为什么要冒险做那种事？”
此外，在此事上对朝鲜的特殊对待，破坏了将朝鲜转变为国际社会正常一员的努力。
施奈德表示：“如果这些钱顺利转移，那么就将破环整个银行体系，因为这表明可以有例外情况存在。现在，朝鲜成立国际金融体系的私生子。”
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