Data on N. Korea centrifuges sought

North Korea purchased some two dozen centrifuges from the Pakistani nuclear supplier network headed by A.Q. Khan and must account for the equipment as part of the stalled nuclear agreement, said a senior Bush administration official.

The Feb. 13 nuclear accord reached by six nations in Beijing is being held up by $24 million in North Korean funds frozen in Macao’s Banco Delta Asia because of money-laundering concerns.

However, the senior official said the money is expected to be released soon and that the administration is set to promise not to prosecute the bank that agrees to handle the transfer, the senior official said.

“Any entity that is going to be moving that money is going to have to have some assurances because of the permanent 311 that’s been put on Banco Delta Asia,” said the senior official, who specializes in North Korean issues and who spoke to The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity.

The assurances are likely to be in the form of a Treasury Department “no action” letter that promises not to prosecute the bank under the USA Patriot Act money-laundering provision known as Section 311, which bars U.S. banks from conducting transactions with banks engaged in money laundering.

Treasury Department spokeswoman Mollie Millerwise declined to comment on the letter but said yesterday that the department is working with Russian authorities on the funds transfer from Macao.

The senior official said Washington fulfilled its part of the February agreement by not opposing the release of the funds, but Pyongyang “moved the goal posts” by demanding that the U.S. government facilitate the transfer.

“We’ve agreed not to interpose any objections to the release of that money, although some of that was obtained through illicit means,” the official said. “Now we’re going to look at how we can facilitate the transfer of that money.”

The funds could be shifted in the near future, the official said.

Of the centrifuges and uranium-enrichment goods that are the “central” issue of North Korean denuclearization, the senior official said, Pyongyang must account for the equipment.

“We know they acquired … close to two dozen centrifuges, P-1 and P-2 design, with P-2s being the most sophisticated,” the senior official said.

The P-1 and P-2 designs were sold by the Khan network to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Large numbers of the machines are needed to spin uranium hexafluoride gas to produce highly enriched uranium, the fuel for nuclear bombs.

Additionally, North Korean purchasing agents bought special aluminum tubing used for centrifuges and uranium enrichment.

“When you put all those pieces together, it spoke to a clear intent to have basically a production-scale capability to enrich uranium,” the official said.

Under the first phase of the February nuclear accord, North Korea must shut down its plutonium-fueled reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon and allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country to monitor the program. The second phase calls for dismantling all nuclear programs, including the uranium-enrichment facilities.

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