U.S. and Macau (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 31, 2006

12:23 p.m. EST

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QUESTION: Sean, when you say "In terms of the concessions, I think not," that means, no, the United States did not offer any conditions or concessions for the North Koreans to come back?

MR. MCCORMACK: No. They have previously talked about the fact that they are interested in clearing up issues related to Banco Delta Asia and other so-called financial issues. We have for some time said that we would be happy to talk about these issues in the context of the six-party talks and that remains our position.

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QUESTION: One of the things that Chris Hill had said is that the U.S. was willing to talk about the counterfeiting issues and the financial sanctions issue perhaps within the idea of a working group. Can you discuss what you mean by address? Do you see this as what you've offered before, an opportunity to explain why you do what you did and what North Korea needs to stop doing to get out of these sanctions? Or do you see this potential working group as part of the negotiations in terms of lifting those sanctions?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, again, the root cause of why you have the specific actions taken by some parties is illicit Korean behavior. In terms of the Banco Delta Asia or other financial issues, we're willing to address them. I will put it that way. We are willing to address those issues in the context of the six-party talks. You can have a variety of different mechanisms. You can have a working group in order to discuss these issues.

I think the North Koreans understand the easy way around these questions and that is not to engage in illicit behavior. And U.S. law and regulations are very clear, we're happy to have the discussion about that, but I'm not going to presume what the discussion might be in the context of the six-party talks. It is worth noting, however, that there's a common misperception out there that it was actually the United States that froze these assets. This was action taken by the bank as well as the Macau authorities. So it's not the United States that has frozen these assets. We did provide information to the bank about what their bank and the accounts might be being used for, but that was the extent of our involvement.

QUESTION: Sean, did I understand you to say earlier in response to one of Arshad's questions that North Korea has been working to clear up this problem regarding Banco Delta Asia?

MR. MCCORMACK: I -- no -- you'd have to talk to them about that.

QUESTION: Okay, so you've gotten no sense that they've -- you have no evidence that they have stopped committing the acts that were objectionable to us?

MR. MCCORMACK: Illicit activities? No, I still think that they are engaged in a variety of different illicit activities.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:10 p.m.)

Released on October 31, 2006