PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- North Korea Tuesday threatened to boycott nuclear disarmament talks unless the United States lifts its financial sanctions on the communist state.
The U.S. Treasury Department in September suspended transactions between its financial institutions and Macau-based Banco Delta Asia after it was named as North Korea's money laundering instrument, forcing the bank to cut off transactions with North Korea.
The U.S. administration also has frozen the assets of entities linked to the spread of weapons of mass destruction, including those connected to North Korea.
U.S. nuclear negotiators said that the issue is not relevant to the nuclear talks but a matter to be handled by law-enforcement authorities.
But North Korea said it is "nonsense both logically and diplomatically to argue that the financial sanctions are unrelated with the six-way talks."
"It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such provocative sanctions applied by the United States upon the DPRK (North Korea)," said Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's state-run newspaper.
"The United States should respect its dialogue partner to comply with the spirit of the agreement and it should not take any action to create obstacles that impede the progress of the six-party talks," said the newspaper carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
