Korea/USA

A member of the Korean working group who accompanied President Roh to Washington reportedly conveyed the idea to the U.S. counterpart “to deal with the sanctions against North Korea carefully in order to keep the peaceful mood created by the Korea-U.S. summit meeting.” Notwithstanding, Washington responded, “We fully understand Korea’s opinion, but sanctions are available any time if necessary.”

In addition, Roh reportedly started discussing the financial sanctions on North Korea’s bank account in a Macao-based bank, the Banco Delta Asia (BDA), at a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on September 13, and added he hoped that U.S. financial sanctions will not dampen the international efforts for the six-pare talks. In response, Paulson answered that “it is a (U.S.) lawful measure, and law enforcement and sanctions are two different things.” donga