Posted on 03/07/2006 9:08:31 AM PST by lizol
Russia Opposes Sanctions Against North Korea
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter
Russia opposes any kind of sanctions against what the United States calls rogue states such as Iran and North Korea, Glev Ivashentsov, Moscow's top diplomat to Seoul, said on Tuesday. His remarks came as U.S. and North Korean officials were to hold a meeting in New York later in the day amid Washington's financial sanctions against Pyongyang for the communist state's alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.
``In principle, we are against any economic sanctions because they do not work,'' Ivashentsov told The Korea Times after a forum hosted by the Korea News Editors' Association in Seoul.
``There should be dialogue, there should be consultation, but sanctions do not work neither against North Korea, nor against Iran, nor against any other country,'' he said.
In New York, North Korean officials were to receive a briefing by U.S. Treasury Department officials on the ``financial restrictions'' Washington imposed in September against a bank in Macau for its alleged money-laundering service to Pyongyang for over 20 years.
Calling it ``financial sanctions'' targeting the Pyongyang regime, North Korea said in November that it will not return to the six-party denuclearization talks unless the United States gives up such a hostile policy.
The talks _ attended by the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan _ have been in limbo since a three-day meeting in Beijing ended with no tangible results in November.
``I think we all should work for the progress of the Beijing talks,'' the Russian envoy said. ``We hope that these discussions there in New York would contribute to the progress of the talks about the North's nuclear programs.''
U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser, who handles terrorist financing and financial crimes, represents the ``working-level'' briefing team that is expected to strictly limit its role as a technical information provider, according to wire news services.
The United States reportedly turned down North Korean requests in December that they hold ``high-level'' meetings, attended by the two states' top nuclear negotiators Kim Gye-gwan and Christopher Hill, to find a political way out of the current impasse.
A number of U.S. State Department officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Stephens, will attend the briefing session. But they are not in charge of the North Korean nuclear issue, the wire news services said.
Pyongyang's top delegate to the briefing session is Ri Gun, director of the Foreign Ministry's of North American affairs. He concurrently works as the North's deputy envoy to the six-party talks.
As for the claim that Moscow was one of the venues North Koreans used to circulate the bogus U.S. dollars, Ivashentsov said that his government is not aware of any substantial evidence to prove it.
``Our law-enforcement agencies have not seen substantial evidence, regarding such claims,'' he said through an interpreter during the forum. ``What we've heard of till now is at the level of rumor.''
Quoting unnamed U.S. officials, the Washington Times reported last year that North Korean diplomats and Sean Garland, head of Ireland's communist Workers Party, and part of a ring that allegedly trafficked in the North Korean counterfeit notes, met at the North Korean Embassy in Moscow.
Ivashentsov said that the United States should present concrete evidence that can entangle Pyongyang in financial illegalities. ``The party that raises such suspicions should present the corresponding evidence,'' he said.
Ping
Since Russian pilots were flying MIGs against Americans in the early 50s (pretending to be N. Korean), why is this new, exciting and a big surprise?
What has changed?
What's changed ? Well...the SK government is writing checks to the NKs. Wonder what side they're on ?
Russia is simply turning anti-American. They support Syria, Iran, and N. Korea.
IOW, it's back to the cold war days. . .
"``In principle, we are against any economic sanctions because they do not work,'' Ivashentsov told The Korea Times after a forum hosted by the Korea News Editors' Association in Seoul."
Well said, sanctions have never worked.
Iran and North Korea...
Thanks once again, Jimmah Carter, you spawn of Satan.
More likely that sanctions clear the waters enough that we will get a better idea of how much support Russia is giving these rogue states.
When have sanctions ever worked?
Russia in fact is well aware of WHY they do not work (rampant mafia and corruption in that area of the world means that it just raises prices for goods to sanction them).
Sanctions are the liberals tool of choice because they love knowing that it's doing nothing to thwart anti-American behavior, but it looks like they're doing something to the chaft that are the average democrat.
I disagree. I think certain targeted sanctions work very well. Like telling banks if you do business with terrorists you will not do business with the United States. I think that has been a fantastic success. There will always be methods to circumvent sanctions, but they're better than nothing.
What North Korean banks? The whole country is a dictatorship, what we refuse to give them in terms of raw materials they can get from Russian and Chinese mob. They can launder money through east europe banks with ease. (Latvia, Estonia, etc). The only thing they rely on America for is bleeding heart liberals who promise them foreign aid.
Sanctions are just a distraction so the UN can put off dealing with a problem state for another 8-20 years.
Oh yea, right.
Pyongyang would cite the changing of voices in his head as a reason for not returning to the talks.
"Russia is simply turning anti-American. They support Syria, Iran, and N. Korea.
IOW, it's back to the cold war days. . ."
You could put it that way, if you believe they ever stopped being against us. I would say they temporarily pretended to not be against us---and now they have dropped that pretense.
Why the temporary pretense? Russia went through a period of extraordinary vulnerability after the breakup of the Soviet Union. There was probably an element of political instability (though much less than there appeared to be), they were extremely poor, and their military was in a state of disarray.
Now, they are in better shape (oil money up), and things are rolling their way around the world and against the U. S. China is stepping forward with an element of conventional military pressure in Asia against US allies Taiwan and Japan (though China's military power is exaggerated in the press, it is still a real factor, at least a distraction). The US is bogged down in Iraq and beleaguered by terrorists around the world---terrorists that Russia is slowly acknowledging ownership over (consider Iran and Hamas).
Again, I don't think this represents a substantive change in the Russian position, but they did affect an antiterrorist stance during their period of weakness. They are now letting this pretense fade away and portraying themselves more honestly, as befits their stronger position.
"Since Russian pilots were flying MIGs against Americans in the early 50s (pretending to be N. Korean), why is this new, exciting and a big surprise?
What has changed?"
Nothing - Putie has his eastern commie outpost in N Korea and his western commie outpost in Belorus.
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