Follow the Money

There is no respite for the profligate tyrant of a criminal regime today, notwithstanding the fury of his abetters. His access to ready cash may soon dry up. The Chosun Ilbo reports:

The U.S. government on Wednesday turned up the heat on North Korea by warning U.S. financial institutions that North Korea may be looking for new money laundering channels after Washington blocked transactions with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, allegedly Pyongyang’s main funnel for gains from criminal activities. An advisory by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Division tells American financial institutions to “take reasonable steps to guard against the abuse of their financial services by North Korea, which may be seeking to establish new or exploit existing account relationships for the purpose of conducting illicit activities.” It calls on financial institutions worldwide to take similar precautions.

. . . .

North Korea says it will boycott six-party talks on its nuclear program until the sanctions are lifted.

“The Department of the Treasury is actively monitoring this situation and will take any further action as appropriate,” the advisory added.

One minor point is that this is more accurately characterized as “law enforcement” than as “sanctions,” a word undoubtedly selected to suggest intentional American malice in refusing to give North Korea free license to print Benjamins.

They quoted the North’s chief negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan as saying the U.S. freeze on the bank and blacklisting of several North Korean companies in the last few months “show an utter lack of basic trust, and in such a tense situation it is impossible to discuss the nuclear weapons issue.

Just as the 1972 Christmas bombing forced Hanoi to make key concessions at the Paris Peace Talks, this Christmas freeze could force concessions out of Pyongyang. But the compliance of a reluctant opponent may prove equally illusory. Here ends the analogy. The U.S. is not engaged in a ground war in Korea. Contrary to the situation in Vietnam, withdrawals of U.S. ground forces from Korea can only strengthen the U.S. hand, as long as strong air and naval forces remain nearby. That’s why the U.S. team is right to suggest that it’s not prepared to tolerate an unending impasse over actions that are simply too indefensible to be negotiable.