AP: Banks Said Severing Ties With NKorea

[maddezmom]

August 29, 2006, 3:32 AM EDT


WASHINGTON -- The financial noose is tightening around North Korea as international banks sever ties with the nation -- a move championed by the United States, a top Treasury Department official says.

The United States has accused Pyongyang of spreading weapons and missile technology to other countries, counterfeiting U.S. currency and trafficking drugs. It wants to see the reclusive, communist-led regime financially incapacitated.

"There is sort of a voluntary coalition of financial institutions saying that they don't want to handle this business anymore and that is causing financial isolation for the government of North Korea," Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press.

"They don't want to be the banker for someone who's engaged in crime, as the North Korean government is," he said.

more:http://www.newsday.com/business/ats-ap_business12aug29,0,2130613.story?track=rss

[acmavm]

1. Something has to be done about Kim, he's nuttier than a fruitcake.

But while I agree with that statement, I found this one to be ironically hysterical:

<snip>

"They don't want to be the banker for someone who's engaged in crime..."

<snip>

[treestar]

2. Drug trafficking thrown in there

It is only amazing that they are not accused of sponsoring terrorism.