Wobble Watch: Has China Unfrozen Blocked North Korean Accounts?

The State Department is saying it doesn’t know if the reports are true; it’s telling reporters to ask the Chinese:

A diplomatic source in Beijing said China has released some of the North Korean money at Macau’s Banco Delta Asia (BDA), frozen after the U.S. Treasury in September last year designated it a primary money laundering concern abetting Pyongyang’s illicit activities.  The unfrozen accounts, less than half of the US$24 million initially held up, are believed to be those not related to the North Korean financial crimes, the source said.

The source said the measures were presumably taken with the understanding of the United States.  An official in Seoul, meanwhile, downplayed the report, saying the BDA case is not a negotiating card the U.S. will use so easily.

Unless we can account for how those funds will be spent — that is, ensure that they won’t be spent for WMD programs — China is violating UNSCR 1718 by unblocking those funds.  Note that China’s past cooperation with Treasury had greatly pleased some in Washington.  Does China assume that with a new, more China-friendly  faction ascendant in Washington, that its withdrawal of that cooperation will have no adverse effects?  Consider this report in light of what Treasury calls “new evidence”  in its BDA investigation,  which it claimed just two weeks ago  was “making headway.”  One wonders if China’s actions could disrupt that investigation.  If so, one is entitled to wonder why.