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Communist North Korea
Bans Use Of US Dollars
11-24-2

SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea will stop using U.S. dollars from next month, China's Xinhua news agency said, following a U.S. decision to halt oil shipments to Pyongyang.
 
The move highlights racked-up tensions between Washington and Pyongyang after North Korea, branded part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq by U.S. President George Bush, admitted it was pursuing a nuclear-weapons program.
 
North Koreans and foreigners would have to convert dollar accounts at Pyongyang's state-run Korean Trade Bank into euros or other currencies, Xinhua said Friday, quoting a letter from the state-owned bank in charge of foreign-exchange business.
 
"Hotels, foreign-exchange shops and foreign-related services will receive no U.S. dollars from the start of December," a staff member of the Korean Trade Bank was quoted as saying.
 
U.S. dollar accounts would be automatically changed into euros if account holders made no declaration by the end of November, the bank letter said.
 
The dollar ban was part of "political means" to counter the pressure from the United States over the nuclear issue, Xinhua quoted an unnamed British diplomat as saying.
 
The United States has suspended fuel-oil shipments from December in an effort to force Pyongyang to abandon the program.
 
North Korea has called the oil cut-off -- which takes effect as North Korea's sub-zero winter sets in -- a "wanton violation" of the pledges of energy aid for Pyongyang.
 
Under a 1994 "Agreed Framework," North Korea promised to freeze its nuclear-weapons program in return for fuel oil, paid by Washington, and two light water reactors that cannot easily be converted to produce atomic-weapons material.
 
Xinhua said the Korean Trade Bank had also asked diplomatic missions and international institutions to use euros and other currencies, not dollars.
 
Sample euros in banknotes and coins were displayed outside the Korean Trade Bank, with a poster notifying local residents to change their dollars, but no deadline was given, Xinhua said.
 
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.





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