U.S. team to seek cooperation in financial pressure on N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with S. Korean official's background briefing, other
details, CORRECTS Treasury official's last name to Levey)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- An inter-agency team of ranking U.S. officials, on a
rare tour of Northeast Asia, may ask China and other related nations to step up
cooperation on imposing financial curbs on North Korea for its second nuclear
test last week, officials here said Monday.

The delegation, led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, includes
Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey, who is in charge of fighting
terrorism-related funds. Other members are Stephen Bosworth, special
representative for North Korea policy, Wallace Gregson, assistant secretary of
defense for Asian Pacific affairs, and Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian
Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). They are scheduled to arrive in
Seoul Tuesday night from Japan before traveling to China and Russia.
"(The delegation) will have inclusive and comprehensive discussions on how to
respond to North Korea's nuclear test in various sectors including financial
control," a senior South Korean government official said in a background briefing
for reporters. He asked not to be named.
On whether the U.S. demanded South Korea's support in putting financial pressure
on Pyongyang, the official said, "It is a matter related more to involved parties
than us." He refused to name the parties, only saying, "You will be able to
guess."
The official noted that South Korea supports sanctions on financial resources used
in the North's development of missile and nuclear weapons.
Financial measures are widely viewed as one of the most effective ways to pressure
the cash-strapped communist nation, as demonstrated in 2005 when the U.S.
blacklisted a small bank in Macau, Banco Delta Asia, which had about 24 million in
North Korean funds.
The U.S. measure prompted financial institutions abroad to shun dealings with the
bank and North Korea. Pyongyang responded sensitively to the measure, boycotting
the six-way talks on its nuclear program.
A draft of the U.N. Security Council resolution, submitted by the U.S. and Japan,
calls for a freeze in North Korean assets abroad.
Experts agree that cooperation by China, North Korea's top trading partner, is
crucial to the implementation of the resolution, if adopted.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)