Daniel Glaser, the Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime, reportedly advised media, who were present in Beijing for a meeting between the parties, that he had conferred with North Korean officials concerning 50 accounts at the bank allegedly used for money laundering by the DPRK, and that US claims "had been vindicated."  The names of the accounts were not disclosed, but it is believed that they were front organisations utilised in money laundering operations.

North Korea had been attempting for months to gain access to its frozen funds, and it is rumoured that the United States will agree to release $27m, provided the DPRK makes certain concessions involving its budding nuclear weapons development programme. Will some sort of settlement finally be concluded ? Alternatively, will the US increase its level of sanctions against a country President Bush declared part of the "Axis of Evil" that seeks to develop weapons of mass destruction, and a missile technology capable of intercontinental delivery ?