N. Korea again links resumption of 6-party talks to U.S. sanctions

TOKYO, Jan. 3 Kyodo

North Korea on Tuesday reiterated its call on the United States to lift sanctions if it wants to see a resumption of stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons ambitions.

''The U.S. should, first of all, lift its sanctions against the DPRK, the main factor of scuttling the talks, before talking about the resumption of the talks,'' the official Rodong Sinmun daily said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Tokyo.

''The prospect of the resumption of the talks entirely depends on the U.S. behavior,'' it said.

DPRK is an acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, said U.S. sanctions and pressure have ''prevented the DPRK from going to the (six-party) talks and the former has made dastardly efforts to shift the responsibility for this on to the DPRK.''

Last September, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Macao-based Banco Delta Asia SARL, a unit of Delta Asia Financial Group, of being ''a willing pawn for the North Korean government to engage in corrupt financial activities through Macao'' and designated the bank a ''primary money laundering concern'' under the Patriot Act, subjecting it to sanctions.

The United States charges that senior bank officials were working with North Korean officials to accept large deposits of cash, including counterfeit U.S. currency, and agreeing to place that currency into circulation.

The following October, the Treasury Department designated eight North Korean entities as being proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and delivery vehicles, enabling the blocking of any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. entities and individuals from doing business with them.

The six-way talks were last held among the United States, North and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia in early November for a fifth time, but yielded no major achievements.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the fourth round of talks in September, North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for energy aid, security assurances and other benefits.

But disputes subsequently arose over the wording of the agreement with North Korea demanding it be provided with a civilian nuclear reactor before dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

The Rodong Sinmun commentary said the U.S. ''wanton violation and distortion'' of a joint statement issued at the end of the fourth round of the multilateral nuclear talks in September have ''rendered the prospect of the (six-party) talks gloomy.''

Pyongyang accuses Washington of ''reneging'' on a commitment it allegedly made in September to hold bilateral talks between the leaders of their delegations to the six-party talks on settling the issue of financial sanctions imposed on North Korea.

But Washington says it never offered to engage in any such negotiations with Pyongyang on ending sanctions, but merely to brief the North Koreans on the legal basis for its actions.

Washington says that banking sector issues are not in the purview of the six-party talks and that if Pyongyang wishes to avoid sanctions, it should stop committing illegal activities.

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