NKorea sanctions squeeze cash for aid groups
MARGIE MASON, AP
PYONGYANG,
North Korea (AP) — New international sanctions aimed at thwarting North
Korea's nuclear weapons program are having unintended consequences:
halting money transfers by foreign
humanitarian groups working to help those most in need and forcing some
agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside.
(sounds legit, nothing to see here,just some guy with a suitcase full of cash. what could possibly go wrong?)
At
the same time, some restrictions are meant to sting the country's elite
by crippling the import of luxury goods, such as yachts, fancy cars and
jewelry. But they do not appear to be
stopping the well-heeled from living large in the capital Pyongyang.
(and the ultimate luxury item enriched plutonium,)
Much
of the aid group difficulties are linked to the state-run Bank of
China's decision earlier this month to follow Washington's lead and
sever ties with the North's Foreign Trade Bank,
the main money transfer route for most foreign organizations, U.N.
agencies and embassies in Pyongyang. With that line cut, aid workers in
North Korea say they are left with few other options to receive foreign
currency for expenses including rent, bills and
salaries for local staff.
The
sanctions are not supposed to affect humanitarian aid, but six
Pyongyang-based aid organizations headquartered in Europe issued a
communique earlier this month spelling out their
frustrations and calling the difficulties in transferring money to
North Korea a "big problem." They warned that they may be forced to
suspend their operations if they cannot find ways to access cash. A
handful of American non-governmental organizations also
work in North Korea, but they cycle in and out and do not maintain a
permanent presence.
Gerhard
Uhrmacher, program manager for German humanitarian aid organization
Welthungerhilfe, said when recent bank transfers failed, he managed to
keep projects running by routing 500,000
euros ($643,000) to Chinese or North Korean accounts in China to pay
for building supplies and other goods.
He
said Welthungerhilfe, which signed the communique and works on
agriculture and rural development projects in North Korea, has some
reserves in Pyongyang but must also resort to carrying
cash into the country by hand.
"It
doesn't give a good impression. We're trying to be transparent, to be
open to all sides and now we're more or less forced to do something that
doesn't really look very proper because
people who carry a lot of cash are somehow suspect," said Uhrmacher who
is based in Germany and has worked in North Korea for the past 10
years.
"Whatever
you're doing, everybody looks at you very closely," he said. "That's
why we don't like it because bank accounts are proper. Everybody can
have a look at it and everybody can
control it. Now we are forced to do something else."
Some
analysts said aid groups were simply "collateral damage" and that they
will find a way to work around the sanctions as they have been forced to
do in other countries. Others said
the poorest North Koreas would be hurt if some humanitarian groups have
to pull out of the country. The aid groups work on a range of issues
from food security to improving health and assisting with disabilities.
Aid
groups "may not provide as much support as governments, but they have
the ability to reach the deep corners of the impoverished North where
people are in most need," said Woo Seongji,
a professor of international relations at Kyung Hee University in
Seoul. "Their help is both symbolic and substantial. It reaches kids,
hospitals and food shelters that outside governments may not be able to
support consistently because of political considerations."
The
latest sanctions have added challenges to the already difficult system
of getting money into North Korea since ally China has restrictions on
how much foreign currency can be legally
taken beyond its borders.
Sanctions
and trade embargoes have long been used by the international community
to put an economic squeeze on troublesome regimes from Iraq and Myanmar
to Cuba. But they are a blunt
tool that can unintentionally add to the suffering of people living
under oppressive rule by hindering development and the delivery of aid.
In
North Korea's case, the sanctions are meant to stop financing and the
smuggling of cash that could help its nuclear and missile programs. They
also aim to send a message to the country's
elite by crushing the import of luxury goods.
Yet
last week at the newly opened six-story Haedanghwa Service Complex in
Pyongyang, well-dressed North Koreans chatted on mobile phones and
browsed in a high-end boutique that sold everything
from fine Italian suits and Dior makeup to glass showcases glittering
with diamonds and gold.
The
opulent center boasted 17 different themed dining rooms and cavernous
banquet halls, some with their own bathrooms and round tables big enough
to seat 30 people. Upstairs, young couples
played pool, lounged in the sauna and munched on sushi while sipping
cans of Coke and beer. Others splashed in a heated indoor swimming pool
replete with waterfalls or worked out at a fitness center filled with
state-of-the-art equipment. Downstairs at a popular
restaurant, a chef delighted guests by cooking on a grill in front of
them — at a cost of $50 a plate, not including drinks.
Meanwhile,
at the airport, a Toshiba 42-inch flatscreen TV slowly made loops on
the baggage carousel. All proof that high-end merchandise is still
making its way to the upper class in
an impoverished country where two-thirds of its 24 million people don't
have enough to eat.
Uhrmacher
said that despite repeated European Union vows that sanctions will not
affect humanitarian aid, the pinch is being felt by all the
organizations working in North Korea. The
EU has not sanctioned Foreign Trade Bank, but he said due to U.S.
political pressure and fears of becoming entangled in controversy,
European banks do not want to be associated with it. Bank of China had
typically been used as a channel to route money to the
aid groups' North Korean accounts.
Most
foreign embassies, NGOs and businesses have accounts at FTB or the
Daedong Credit Bank. Daedong was named in an earlier round of U.S.
sanctions, leading many embassies and NGOs to
open accounts at the FTB.
"We
are concerned regarding possible unintended effects of certain
sanctions, in particular with regard to humanitarian assistance, and
stress the need to overcome these unintended effects,"
said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy head Catherine
Ashton.
The
U.S. Treasury Department hit the North Korean bank with sanctions in
March, effectively cutting it off from the U.S. financial system after
accusing the country's main foreign exchange
institution of funding Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.
Washington pressured Beijing to also impose restrictions on the bank a
month after new leader Kim Jong Un angered his biggest economic
supporter by conducting an underground nuclear test.
The
U.N. responded to that move by slapping Pyongyang with its
toughest-ever sanctions. Tensions then boiled and North Korea spewed
threats for weeks, including plans to launch nuclear
strikes against the U.S. and its allies. The mood has since cooled,
with the North sending a high-level envoy to Beijing last week to
deliver a message that they were willing to take steps toward rejoining
stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
Embassies
and U.N. agencies are also affected by the banking transfer issues, but
several officials refused to comment due to the sensitivity of the
issue. However, the U.N. in Pyongyang
said last month that the sanctions were hurting its ability to raise
funds, resulting in a shortage of drugs and vaccines. The World Health
Organization also said it's harder to import equipment and medicine
because everyone has become over cautious at all
levels before clearing materials.
The
World Food Program said it has not yet been affected by the banking
problems. It only needs limited funding within North Korea as financial
transactions for its food aid are completed
outside the country.
————
Associated
Press writers Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Frank Jordans in Berlin
and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.
————
(spending on a Nuclear Weapons program while it's people starve,at lest Iran cares for it's serfs while trying to build terror weapons. and what does NK hope to achieve? hold the south hostage? capture more Japanese tourists? make another kiaju monster movie? why Kim oh why do you feel the need for nukes instead of a functioning infrastructure? come over to the west we have Disney!!)
