Pyongyang holds $25 million in Banco Delta Asia (BDA), which was frozen under U.S. pressure in 2005 over money laundering suspicions. The money was to be released in mid-March after the North refused to continue denuclearization talks following a February breakthrough in the six-nation process, but disputes over its transfer have stalled the process, prompting Pyongyang to delay its earlier commitment.
"Delta Asia Group Holdings denies that BDA knew or suspected that its customers were engaged in money laundering or that any of its customers were engaged in any criminal activities or their funds were in any way connected with such activities," the Group said in a news release.
The parties have so far failed to find a way of returning the money to North Korea, as foreign banks have refrained from working with BDA after the U.S. Treasury banned American financial institutions from conducting any transactions with the bank in Macao, a semi-autonomous region in China.
Delta Asia Group said it regrets the US Treasury Department's decision to finalize the rulemaking to impose a special measure against its commercial banking arm.
The U.S. has not produced evidence of the bank's money laundering, and its ban on dealing with BDA has forced North Korea to go back on its commitment to close down a nuclear reactor within 60 days. The reactor produced plutonium for its October underground nuclear test. The deadline for the closure expired Saturday.
The six-nation talks involve the U.S., Japan, Russia, North and South Korea and China.
