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U.N. inspectors arrive in North Korea

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: North Korea on Tuesday announced its willingness to engage the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), even as inspectors from that United Nations agency arrived in Pyongyang.

The IAEA inspectors travelled to Pyongyang after the Kim Jong-il administration had earlier agreed to receive them following substantial progress towards the resolution of a financial dispute between North Korea and the United States.

Prior to their departure for Pyongyang, the IAEA’s verification experts said that they would negotiate the shut-down and the sealing of the Yongbyon nuclear facility as the first step towards North Korea’s nuclear disarmament under the February 13 accord among six parties.

North Korea’s formal announcement of its new gesture towards the IAEA was prefaced by an official comment that the financial dispute at stake had now been “resolved.” It was said that the issue of “frozen funds” was settled.

The U.S. had earlier characterised North Korea’s funds in a Macau bank, estimated to be $25 millions, as tainted money.

The funds were consequently frozen, and they are now being transferred to North Korea through layered banking transactions involving Macau, the United States, and Russia.

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