Posted on 08/22/2006 6:27:38 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Vietnam already shut down N.K. accounts in past few weeks: ICG Seoul director
WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- Vietnamese banks have already closed down North Korean accounts over the past few weeks, most likely forcing Pyongyang to move its money to its last remaining haven, Russia, said Peter Beck, head of the International Crisis Group's Seoul office, on Tuesday.
Beck said Nigel Cowie, general manager of North Korea's Daedong Credit Bank in Pyongyang, e-mailed him last week and said Vietnamese banks have shut down Daedong's and other North Korea-held accounts.
Daedong expected such a move by Vietnam after U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey visited Hanoi early last month, and had moved its funds elsewhere, Cowie said in the e-mail.
He did not say where the money was moved to, but Beck said it's most likely Russia.
"The only financial window they (North Koreans) have left now is Russia, I am told," Beck said at a roundtable on North Korea hosted by the Mansfield Foundation.
Daedong is one of the several North Korean entities accused of shady financial transactions through Macau-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA).
The U.S. Treasury in September designated BDA the primary money laundering concern abetting Pyongyang's illicit financial activities that it says range from counterfeiting of American currency to drug trafficking, smuggling of contraband, and sales of weapons of mass destruction.
North Korea now demands that the U.S. lift the punitive measures on the BDA before Pyongyang returns to the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
The Treasury's designation led to a run by BDA clients, and the Macau bank froze US$24 million of funds related to North Korea.
Cowie has said in the past that Daesong's accounts at BDA were not involved in any illegal activities, that its funds are all from legitimate sources.
"Talking to Cowie and others, he's led me to conclude that it's not just $24 million in Macau that North Korea is worried about," Beck said.
"They are worried that Macau is just one step and means of cracking down on all North Korean financial activities, and Stuart Levey's visit to Hanoi was clearly designed to further tighten the financial noose and get Vietnam to shut down," he said.
Vietnamese central bank officials said earlier Tuesday that acting upon Levey's suggestion, Hanoi has ordered all banks to investigate North Korea-related accounts.
Even the Vietnamese don't want anything to do with Kim Jong Il.
This writer is really naive. China is the string puller on old Kim Sick Ill --- he can move his money to China easily. How naive to think that Russia is the only "mentor" and supplier of NK....LMFAO.
Ping!
Even Kimmie is not silly enough to put his cash in the Chinese wallet.
"Chinese:bank::street-shyster:shell-game"
Kimmie is stealing China's trains for crying out loud! "Here, China. Hold my cash. I'm stealing your trains."
It is not about counterfeit dollars. It is about laundering money from illegal enterprises(drug running, missile/WMD sales)
Kimmie is stealing China's trains for crying out loud!
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I would not discount the ties between these two Commie maggots.
I suggest you may want to reread the article. Only a little is being said about the confterfeiting dollars in this article, but it is a MAJOR problem coming out of North Korea.
You said Russians are stringent on counterfeit dollars. Then when do Russians allow N. Koreans to maintain accounts in Russia? If what you said is true, N. Koreans are using them for other illegal activities.
Or is your previous statement incorrect?
when why do Russians allow N. Koreans to maintain accounts in Russia?
They may be using them for other purposes, but they sure as hell would not be able to pass counterfiet dollars through Russia.
So what? Who said illegal activities only revolve around passing counterfeit dollars? I did not. You did.
North Korea supported the Khmer Rouge when Vietnam invaded Cambodia.
Imagine the US in some kind of economic alliance with Communist North Vietnam (and occupied South Vietnam territory) against Cultist North Korea. THAT would be weird.
You should. Communist brotherhood is long dead. These are two garden variety dictatorships who occasionally find each other useful. The days of North Korea being China's puppet are over.
China likes having NK around because they draw a lot of diplomatic heat, and NK likes having China around because they get good diplomatic cover for acting like a mad dog.
Other than that, they're not allies. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and their nuclear arsenel likely isn't that far behind China's paltry 100 odd warheads, so why exactly would they need China anyway?
Communist countries can and do have divorces. For pete's sake, look at the Soviet Union and China. They even had a bloody border war over it. And (as his been pointed out) who would want to be smack between China and Vietnam in the winter of 1978 along the Yunnan Province border in North Vietnam without a flak jacket?
There is no honor among thieves.
All indications are that Pyongyang and Beijing are heading into a phase of increasingly more pissing matches.
I know for a fact that holds true in China also. They want new, crisp, unmarked bills. One can assume by that policy China also has an "augmented" source of new US currency - counterfeit.
Mr. Bush has "looked into the eyes" of Mr. Putin and finds him to be a capeable partner in the quest for peace?
Mr. Putin the former head of the russian secret service is a friend to every rogue state the world has to offer.
Rissia is not our friend. They will still use every option available to hurt Americnan interests.
Russia has a complex much like France, they can't beleive they aren't ruling the world with their brand of govt. and their culture.
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