WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- North Korea's decision to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program stemmed from a U.S.-led financial squeeze, officials told the Los Angeles Times.
The Bush administration first began imposing sanctions to stop North Korea's alleged money laundering and counterfeiting three years ago, and last year targeted a bank in Macao being used by Pyongyang.
Wednesday, North Korea announced it would return to nuclear talks it had boycotted for a year over the sanctions, which many in Washington saw as a victory.
"They're not coming back because they want to give up nuclear weapons," said David Asher, the U.S. State Department's point man on North Korea until last year. "They are feeling the financial pressure and the cutoff from the international financial system, so they are trying to make nice."
As of Thursday, no date or venue for the talks had been announced.
The Bush administration is having only limited success in sanctions cooperation from Russia and China, although after North Korea's Oct. 9 underground nuclear test, China ordered some of its banks to stop doing business with Pyongyang, the report said.
