Special
Report: The sixth round of
six-party talks
BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A solution that can be
accepted by all parties should be found for the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) frozen funds issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on
Tuesday.
Spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular press conference
that the settlement of the issue depends on whether the DPRK and the United
States could find a solution that takes the interests and concerns of all
parties into consideration and is accepted by all parties.
"As the relevant Chinese bank is a listed company, it
must fulfil its international obligations and abide by international laws and
regulations. The Chinese side, including the government of Macao Special
Administrative Region, also has its international obligations and concerns on
this issue," Qin said.
The United States on March 19 agreed to transfer
DPRK's 25million U.S. dollars frozen at Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA) to a
DPRK account at the Bank of China in Beijing.
But the funds have not been transferred due to some
technical problems, which led to the recess of the latest round of six-party
talks on March 22.
Qin said all the relevant parties have made
continuous efforts to resolve the funds issue since the first phase of the sixth
round of talks and China hopes such efforts would "make breakthrough" as soon as
possible.
According to Qin, U.S. top negotiator to the
six-party talks Christopher Hill is in Japan and will visit China soon, and
China is in discussion with the U.S. side on Hill's visit.
A U.S. delegation headed by Governor of New Mexico
Bill Richardson arrived Sunday in the DPRK for a visit. DPRK top negotiator to
the six-party talks Kim Kye-gwan met with Richardson.
Qin said he noted Kim's remarks when meeting with
Richardson and he believed DPRK's will of implementing the February 13 joint
document, promoting the progress of the six-party talks and realizing
denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula has not changed.
Qin said the resumption of the talks is what the six
parties are working on.
"It is normal that we face difficulties and the
six-party talks process has never been a smooth one, but full of difficulties,"
said Qin, adding the six parties have a firm and unchanged consensus on working
for denuclearization on the Peninsula through negotiations and dialogues,
normalization of relations between related countries and lasting peace on the
Peninsula.
U.S. supports Macau in unblocking
frozen DPRK accounts
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The United States
supports the Macau authorities in unblocking all DPRK-related accounts currently
frozen in the Macau bank Banco Delta Asia, the U.S. Treasury Department said in
a statement on Tuesday.
Based on previous discussions with officials from China,
China's Macau and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),as well as
understandings reached with the DPRK on the use of these funds, the United
States would support a decision by the Macau authorities to unblock the accounts
in question, the statement said. Full story
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