Vietnam on world newspapers

Hi all. Vietnam ngày càng hội nhập, sắp tới vào WTO. Nền kinh tế đang tăng trưởng mạnh (đứng thứ 2 châu Á). Do vậy, Vietnam ta có mặt trên các tờ báo nổi tiếng ngày càng nhiều. Tớ mở topic này, mong các bạn cùng chia sẻ thông tin mà các báo viết về Vietnam. Topic cũng open cho bạn nào luyện dịch, dịch các bài viết về Vietnam. Có gì khó khăn , đưa lên cùng trao đổi. . Ngoài ra có 1 nguồn thông tin khá hay, các bạn muốn nhận weekly report , của thầy Nghiêm, thì gửi email trống( blank email) với subject: Subscriber , vào email : esllearning@yahoo.com

Good morning at last
Aug 3rd 2006 | HANOI
From The Economist print e***ion
An economic boom is accompanied by remarkable success in getting rid of poverty and raising life expectancy

SIGNS of rapid development are visible everywhere around Hanoi: from the flashy sport-utility vehicles on the city''s roads to the dormitory villages of smart ?oexecutivê? homes rising among the fields on the capital''s outskirts. George Bush and other world leaders will see it for themselves when Hanoi hosts the Asia-Pacific economic summit in November. That meeting will take place in a new satellite-city, Tu Liem, which is now being built on Hanoi''s south-western edge. The futuristic conference centre, with a distinctive wavy glass roof, looks almost finished. Nearby, a huge five-star hotel is getting a final coat of paint. Along Tu Liem''s broad, four-lane avenues, some apartment blocks are already occupied, others are just steel skeletons. Between the building sites, cows and buffalo still graze in what was open pasture only recently.
Before starting its doi moi market-oriented reforms in the mid-1980s, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flirted with real communism and came close to famine. Since then, a reform process that was uneven at first has gathered momentum. Recent economic growth, though not quite as stellar as China''s, has been remarkable. In 2001-05 it averaged over 7.5%, reaching a peak of 8.4% last year. This year the government is going all out to hit an 8% target.
Since 1990, Vietnam''s exports have increased faster than China''s. Their growth shows no signs of slackening. Between January and July they amounted to $22 billion, a year-on-year rise of over 25%. Having alarmed the Brazilians by becoming their main competitor in coffee growing, Vietnam is now ramping up its exports of everything from shrimps to ships to shoes (the last prompting the European Union to announce anti-dumping tariffs last month). It has just become the world''s largest exporter of pepper and aims soon to overtake Thailand in rice. It is even selling tea to India.
Foreign-owned factories are chalking up the fastest gains. The government''s aim of increasing electronics exports by 27% annually should be boosted by Intel''s recent decision to build a $605m microchip plant in Ho Chi Minh City. Though farmers'' harvests are still rising, industry''s still-higher growth rate means that agriculture''s share of economic output continues to shrink?"from about 25% in 2000 to 21% last year. By 2010 it may be down to 15%.

This economic revolution is being accompanied by a social one. Though Vietnam is still, overall, one of Asia''s poorest countries, with income per head behind India''s, its recent growth has been impressively egalitarian. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reckons that deep poverty in Vietnam?"defined as a daily income equivalent to under $1?"is now only slightly more prevalent than the average for South-East Asia, whereas in 1990 Vietnam''s figure was more than twice the regional average (see charts). By this measure, Vietnam has overtaken China, India and the Philippines and now has only slightly more poverty than Indonesia.
Được vnbui sửa chữa / chuyển vào 13:51 ngày 08/08/2006

Life expectancy has jumped and infant mortality plunged since the 1990s. Vietnam does better on both these counts than Thailand, a far richer country. Almost three-quarters of Vietnamese children of secondary-school age are in class, up from about a third in 1990. Again, Vietnam has overtaken China, India and Indonesia.

Vietnam lawsuit alarms foreign banks
By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok and Bill Hayton in Hanoi
Financial Times
Published: August 8 2006 01:49 | Last updated: August 8 2006 01:49
The state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam (Incombank) has filed a civil lawsuit against ABN Amrô?Ts Hanoi branch in a serious dispute over foreign currency trading that has alarmed other foreign banks operating in the Communist-ruled country.
In its suit, Incombank, one of Vietnam?Ts four main state-owned banks, has blamed ABN Amro traders for causing $5.4m in losses to the state institution by executing speculative foreign currency trades for an Incombank employee.
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Incombank claims its employee, who was arrested in March, was not authorised to conduct any foreign currency transactions. It argues that ABN Amro traders were ?owrong? to execute the trades and that the company should cover the losses Incombank incurred.
ABN Amro, which was acting as a counterparty bank for the trades, said the bank was ?onot able to comment on commercial disputes that are currently before the court?. A Vietnamese court is scheduled to begin preliminary hearings next week.
With the banks gearing up for a civil court battle, Vietnamese police have arrested four local ABN Amro employees, who are now being investigated on suspicion of illegal foreign exchange dealings. Vietnamese law allows police to hold suspects for up to 16 months without formal charges.
The State Bank of Vietnam, which ostensibly regulates the financial sector but has little actual power, has made no public comments about the case, in spite of conducting a full au*** of ABN Amrô?Ts Hanoi operations. Instead, police, who have little experience with foreign currency trading, are leading the investigation.
Incombank?Ts legal campaign, and the arrests of ABN Amro employees, has sent a chill through other foreign banks operating in Vietnam, raising concerns about the risks of dealing with state financial institutions, and other state agencies. In Vietnam, causing losses to a state enterprise is a serious criminal offence.
Two other large foreign banks are also said to have acted as counterparties for trade with the arrested Incombank employee, though their dealings were for smaller sums.
At a recent forum of foreign business executives and Vietnamese government officials, Tom O?TDore, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce Vietnam, expressed concern about the case, citing both ?othe criminalisation of normal [civil] business transactions, and the lack of involvement by the State Bank in legal proceedings involving financial institutions.?
He warned that the criminalisation of commercial transactions could ?ofreeze business in Vietnam,? and that the apparent sidelining of the state bank could ?onegatively impact Vietnam?Ts financial markets in general, and foreign exchange markets in particular.?
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006

Được vnbui sửa chữa / chuyển vào 20:54 ngày 08/08/2006

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/12/news/international/vietnam_trade/

Vietnam: The trade fight
U.S. companies are keen to tap into Vietnam''s fast-growing economy and consumer market. So what''s the hold up?
By Parija B. Kavilanz, CNNMoney.com staff writer
August 12 2006: 1:57 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Call it the Vietnam clothes conflict.
The Bush administration, worried that American business is losing out on a growing overseas market, is on the verge of making Vietnam a full-fledged trading partner
But clothing and fabric makers are fighting the move. The way they see it, the U.S. would be giving up major money in domestic business - their business - in order to win relatively meager returns and doubtful entrance to markets overseas.
"Vietnam could easily become the second-largest single-country apparel supplier to the U.S.," said Lloyd Wood, spokesman for the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC). "At the same time, Vietnam doesn''t have the potential to buy at the same level from the U.S. You have to question this dynamic when the United States is facing an $800 billion trade deficit."
Vietnam rang up $6.5 billion in U.S. exports in 2005. Total U.S. exports totaled $1.2 billion. Last year the U.S. imported more than $3 billion of apparel from Vietnam, up sharply from a mere $49 million imported just five years ago, according to the Commerce Department.
Currently Vietnam''s textile imports to the U.S. are restricted. But legislation is moving through Congress to award Permanent Normal Trade Relation status - formerly known as "most favored nation" status - to Vietnam. That means Vietnam would get the same general tariff treatment the United States extends to other members of the World Trade Organization in return for mutually favorable tariff treatment for U.S. exports.
"To reap the commercial benefits of Vietnam''s commitments, we need to extend permanent normal trade relations," said Senate Finance Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (Rep. Iowa). In turn, the senator noted, that would let U.S. companies realize lower duties on agricultural exports like pork and dairy products and on U.S. manufactured goods. Plus, it would open the Vietnamese services sector to banking, insurance, telecommunications and other opportunities for American corporations.
But it would also open the door for "dumping" of cheap apparel imports into the United States, opponents argue. That could hurt jobs. And so legislators from textile states, specifically Sen. Elizabeth Dole (Rep. N.C.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (Rep. S.C.), are holding up the legislation.
Sen. Dole (Rep. N.C.), noted in a statement her state''s textile industry has been hit hard in recent years largely because of textile imports. She wants a series of trade remedies to be put in place, such as expanding anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws, and extending quota limits on Vietnamese textiles.
The holdup, which could conceivably stretch through the fall, could be a problem for the Bush administration.
Trade experts said the legislative timetable was drafted keeping in mind that Vietnam is expected to join the WTO in October and Bush''s visit to Hanoi in November for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders'' meeting.
As a WTO member, Vietnam won''t be limited by any apparel export quotas. But U.S. businesses will not be able to take advantage of the same trade benefits and market access opportunities that other WTO members will get, according to Neo Tran, program manager with the U.S -Vietnam Trade Council.
"The U.S. negotiated very hard with Vietnam on concessions as part of supporting Vietnam''s WTO effort. Vietnam won''t grant U.S. these benefits without the PNTR," Tran said.
Citigroup (Charts) is worried. Citigroup spokesman Lionel Johnson said the company is keen to grow its business in Vietnam. It already has two corporate banking branches in in the country and is hoping to grow its consumer franchise there.
Vietnam, a communist nation of 84 million people, is the fastest growing major economy in Southeast Asia. It had a growth rate of 8.4 percent in 2005. Its gross domestic product (GDP) has grown from $31 billion to $50 billion over the past four years.
Its new prime minister, ***************, 56, is reputed to be pushing for a more market-oriented economy.
A 2005 study from consulting firm A.T. Kearney rated Vietnam as a more attractive market than China for retailers eyeing overseas expansion. Consumer spending in Vietnam rose 16 percent last year and retail sales increased 20 percent in 2005 versus the previous year.
Said Johnson, "The current bilateral framework doesn''t allow us to engage in consumer activity. Without the PNTR status, U.S. companies will be at a disadvantage from day one."
Similarly, insurance provider ACE Group is hoping for a trade breakthrough. "Vietnam''s economy will start to boom. We want to expand our services there but our future prospects are being stymied until the trade issue is resolved," said company spokesman Matt Niemeyer.
But AMTAC''s Wood takes a different viewpoint.
"The U.S. is glossing over the fact that Vietnam is a non-market economy like China," he said. "One thing we''ve seen with China is that it dragged its feet on meaningful reforms in currency and banking and other areas after it got WTO membership. The same thing will happen with Vietnam."

Merrill Lynch given green light for Vietnam
By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok
Published: August 14 2006 03:00 | Last updated: August 14 2006 03:00
Wall Street has extended its advance into Vietnam''s business capital, Ho Chi Minh City, with Merrill Lynch acquiring a coveted "trading code" needed to buy and sell shares directly on Vietnam''s small but growing stock market.
Merrill Lynch obtained the right to directly hold Vietnamese shares last week, six months after Spencer White, the bank''s chief regional strategist, called Vietnamese stocks a "10-year buy".
"Buy equities now," he urged investors. "For your fund, for yourself, or for your children."
Citigroup, one of the largest foreign financial institutions operating in Vietnam, obtained a trading code since last year and is already marketing Vietnamese equities to foreign investors. Also jumping into the fray is JPMorgan, which will soon initiate coverage of Vietnamese equities.
Until recently, foreign participation in Vietnam''s six-year-old stock market was led by boutique fund managers, such as Dragon Capital and PXP Vietnam Asset Management, which focus exclusively on the Communist country.
With just 47 listed companies and a total market capitalisation of $2.7bn, the formal exchange in Ho Chi Minh City has daily turnover of just $4m-$5m.
Yet Vietnam''s $750m maiden sovereign bond issue last October raised international interest in one of south-east Asia''s fastest-growing economies. Merrill Lynch''s bullish February report, which was widely touted in the Vietnamese media, triggered a big rally on the exchange, which rose 105 per cent between January 1 and late April, driven mainly by Vietnamese investors expecting an imminent surge of foreign capital inflows.
But the market subsequently fell 36 per cent, as the anticipated wave of foreign money failed to materialise, due in part to obstacles confronting foreign investors in obtaining trading codes. It has begun to recover, however, rising 11 per cent last week, partly amid renewed hopes of foreign fund inflows. Like India, Vietnam requires all foreign investors buying listed equities to have trading codes, which officials use to track foreign ownership in listed firms and ensure that foreign equity limits - 49 per cent for most listed companies and 30 per cent for banks - are not breached.
But the protocols needed for obtaining such codes are geared more to individual investors than foreign institutions, which has slowed major foreign players'' advance into the market.
Merrill called its receipt of a trading code "an important milestone" for its equity franchise in Asia. "Vietnam presents one of the few truly untapped markets in the world, and has a great potential to investors for long term growth," Paul Masi, head of Merrill Lynch equities in Asia Pacific, said.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006

Manufacturers Taking Flight -- to Vietnam
The country is luring companies with generous incentives and lower costs than China.
By Don Lee
Times Staff Writer
August 18, 2006
LONG THANH, Vietnam â?" Check that label: "Made in China" is starting to give way to
"Made in Vietnam."
Taking a page from Beijing''s economic playbook, Vietnam is luring makers of shoes,
garments and computer chips with tax breaks, inexpensive land and cheaper labor.
Factory wages average $50 to $60 a month â?" half as much as in the manufacturing centers
along China''s coast. The incentives are so attractive that even Chinese companies are
relocating.
Inside the Johnson Wood plant near the rice paddies, hundreds of young migrant workers
toil away, making beds and dining sets for American consumers. Chinese supervisors bark
orders.
This could be a scene in any number of factories in Dongguan in southern China, the
furniture-making capital of the world. But Johnson Wood is in an industrial park outside Ho
Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
Since 2003, Johnson''s owner, Taiwan-based Green River Group, has been steadily moving
production from mainland China. The company came to Vietnam to avoid paying penalties
on China-made goods, but managers soon found that business con***ions here were better.
By early next year, Green River''s employees in Vietnam, already at 12,000, will surpass its
Chinese workforce of 15,000.
"The future is in Vietnam," said Jerry Chang, the furniture maker''s general manager.
To facilitate business, Vietnam is building roads, airports and seaports. The country is
benefiting from its highly literate population and millions of young workers hungry to
improve their families'' living standards.
"I''m saving to help my younger brother stay at school," said Le Thi Hoa, a 21-year-old
Page 1 of 4
high-school graduate who left her farming village a year earlier to sew shoes at a Nike plant
near here.
In many cases, Vietnam can match or outdo its northern neighbor in business incentives.
Soon it is expected to join the World Trade Organization â?" as China did five years ago â?"
which would make it easier for foreign companies to do business in Vietnam, a market of
84 million people.
"In earlier years, the made-in-Vietnam tag was considered a negative," said Sesto Vecchi, a
New York-born attorney who served as a naval officer during the Vietnam War and has
been living here the last 13 years. For some Americans, he said, that attitude reflected the
vestiges of the war.
The U.S. normalized trade with Vietnam in late 2001, but it wasn''t until about a year ago
that Vecchi began to see significant interest from American businesses.
"Americans can''t believe there''s any place cheaper" than China, he said.
China isn''t brooding about the loss of jobs and businesses to Vietnam, at least not yet. The
numbers may be insignificant to China, and officials in Beijing and local areas may be
happy to see smokestack plants leave and take some of the steam â?" and pollution â?" out of
an economy that''s churning too fast. The nation''s trade surplus hit a record $14.6 billion in
July.
"China won''t be afraid of production moving out," said Ma Xiaoye, a former Chinese trade
official and now head of the Academy for World Watch, an independent civic group in
Shanghai. "It will address some of the imbalance."
But the pace of outsourcing to Vietnam is picking up, and more companies in high-end
industries, including Japan''s Canon Inc. and South Korea''s LG International Corp., are
looking at Vietnam for expansion â?" something that Chinese officials would be concerned
about.
Intel Corp. recently said it would spend $300 million to build a microchip facility near Ho
Chi Minh City, or Saigon, as it was formerly known and many still call it. The Santa Clara,
Calif.-based company picked Vietnam over Thailand and China.
Among the key factors: Vietnam''s comparative political stability and strong focus on
education, said Walter Blocker, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ho
Chi Minh City, who spoke with Intel''s chairman, Craig Barrett, about the decision.
Blocker and other Americans doing business here argue that it''s in the U.S.'' economic and
political interest to expand commercial ties with Vietnam, in part to offset China''s growing
global clout â?" particularly in Asia.
Vietnam attracted $5.8 billion in pledged foreign investment last year, up about 40% from
2004 and $2 billion less than India, a country more than 11 times its size in population.
Companies from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea have led the way in Vietnam. Inside
Page 2 of 4
Vietnam''s Ministry of Planning and Investment compound in Hanoi, dotted with pink
buildings with French windows, a parade of investors from around the world keeps Nguyen
Anh Tuan, the ministry''s deputy director, hopping from one meeting to the next.
His agency''s goal is to secure $25 billion in foreign capital over the next five years. "China
has a big advantage. But we not only have cheap labor but also favorable con***ions for the
future," Nguyen said, listing tax breaks and other spoils for new arrivals.
In China, foreigners invested about $60 billion in each of the last two years, but figures for
the first half of 2006 showed a slight decline.
China''s extensive supply chain and growing pool of skilled workers give it an edge that
Vietnam and most other countries simply cannot match. Yet land, labor and housing costs
in China''s manufacturing hubs have been climbing rapidly.
Shenzhen, a pioneering industrial city in southeast China, has seen sharp minimum wage
increases in the last three years. Chinese workplace and environmental regulations are
getting more stringent, and energy shortages are a perennial concern.
Partly to escape such pressures, Chinese makers of motorbikes, home appliances and even
cattle feed have set up in Vietnam. Some companies are offered free land, said Wu Wanhua,
chairman of the China Business Assn. in Hanoi.
Compared with China, though, some labor rules in Vietnam appear to be quite generous.
New mothers are entitled to five months'' full pay. Work on Sundays isn''t required, and
managers say half of the workers refuse to come in on Sunday even with double-time pay.
Trade unions in Vietnam wield considerably more influence than those in China.
Early this year, thousands of workers in Vietnam protesting low wages shut down scores of
factories for days. The strike ended after the Vietnamese government agreed to boost the
minimum wage at foreign-invested plants by 42% to more than $50 a month. It was the first
increase in two decades, and employers largely took it in stride.
"It''s still acceptable," said Andrew Chang, a senior manager at Kaiser Furniture, a
Taiwanese-owned factory about 20 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City.
Chang and managers of other foreign companies say Vietnamese workers tend to be more
laid back than their Chinese counterparts. Some foreign supervisors, accustomed to a more
intense work pace, have been known to slap workers with the sole of a sneaker. Yet they
extol employees for their creativity and skill in embroidery and workmanship.
Nike now has 10 contracted factories in Vietnam that produce about 29% of the company''s
footwear, up from about 20% five years ago. China accounts for about 31%.
Just north of Ho Chi Minh City, farmlands in Dong Nai province have been carved into
large swaths of industrial parks. The Dong Nai River meanders along one side, a railroad
runs across the middle and new highways flow in all directions through the province.
Page 3 of 4
A giant globe and 10 Corinthian columns stand at the entrance of Kaiser Furniture. The
factory began production two years ago but has been expanding ever since. Kaiser has 3,000
employees, including 200 supervisors and technicians from China, sawing, sanding, drilling
and assembling bedroom furniture. During the 1990s, Kaiser opened four plants in
Shenzhen. One of them recently closed and another two would probably be phased out in a
couple of years, Chang said.
The affable, sideburned Chang, 54, has seen it all before. When he started in the business in
the 1980s, Taiwan was the furniture-manufacturing center. A decade later, most of the
industry had shifted to China. And now it is beginning to move again.
"In the next 10 years, Vietnam will grow very fast," Chang said. "In many areas, I think
Vietnam will be China''s biggest competition."
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times

Vietnam flood toll rises to 42
Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:09 AM BST168
HANOI (Reuters) - Flooding, landslides and lightning have killed 15 people and left one missing since Friday night in Vietnam, bringing the country''s toll in a week of torrential rain to 42, reports said on Sunday.
Thousands have been evacuated to higher ground as water levels in the northern region''s main rivers were expected to continue rising with more rainfall forecast for the coming week, state media quoted a government report as saying.
Northern Vietnam is not the country''s key area for rice production, but more rain was also expected in the southern Mekong Delta rice basket in coming days. However, most of the summer-autumn rice crop has already been harvested.
Natural disasters, especially floods and storms, kill several hundred people in Vietnam each year, mainly during the storm season between May and October.
This year''s rains and floods caused no damage to the coffee crop in the Central Highlands where coffee trees are planted on higher ground.
Officials said four people were killed in a landslide in the northern province of Yen Bai on Saturday. Lightning killed two people in Nghe An province and two more on the outskirts of capital Hanoi while five were swept away in flash flooding.
Sunday''s Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said two people drowned as their boat capsized early on Saturday on a river in the southern province of Dong Nai.
Another man was swept away and reported missing in the northern province of Phu Tho after he tried to save his fish pond, the government report said.
As of Friday, at least 27 people were reported killed in northern and central regions of the Southeast Asian country.

North Korea linked to Asian banks
Bloomberg News
Published: August 20, 2006
TOKYO North Korea has opened bank accounts in Vietnam and other foreign countries that the United States suspects are being used to handle money in the arms trade and for other illegal activities, a joint intelligence report said.

Stuart Levey, the U.S. under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, traveled to Vietnam on July 18 and 19 to warn officials from the Foreign Ministry and the central bank that North Korea had opened 10 accounts, according to the report, which was obtained by Lee Young Hwa, a professor of economics at Japan''s Kansai University.

"Because of illegal business activities by the North Korean military and espionage organizations, such as the sale of drugs, counterfeit money and fake tobacco, the country is even losing regular bank accounts," Lee said. "This report shows North Korea''s frustration and desperation."

Vietnam''s central bank is "seriously" investigating money transactions in the country, the report says.

Le Dung, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, declined to comment on the report, which was issued by unidentified agencies in the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The U.S. Treasury has been using its authority under international banking laws and the Patriot Act to cut off money that it says North Korea gets from drug trafficking and counterfeiting as a way to put pressure on the country to stop trying to develop nuclear weapons.

"The U.S. continues to encourage financial institutions to carefully assess the risk of holding any North Korea-related accounts," Levey said Thursday. The distinction between legal and illegal money held by North Korea is almost invisible, he said, while declining to comment on his visit to Vietnam.

Levey visited South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore in July to discuss issues such as money laundering and global financial security, according to a Treasury Department statement issued July 18 in Seoul.

North Korea''s Tanchon Commercial Bank and Daedong Cre*** Bank opened the accounts in Vietnam, the report says, adding that the country has new agreements with 23 banks in 10 countries, including Mongolia and Russia.

The report, written in Japanese, says North Korea opened new accounts after the U.S. Treasury in September accused the Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank, of helping North Korea launder money.

Macao''s government took control of the bank and froze $24 million in its accounts.


TOKYO North Korea has opened bank accounts in Vietnam and other foreign countries that the United States suspects are being used to handle money in the arms trade and for other illegal activities, a joint intelligence report said.

Stuart Levey, the U.S. under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, traveled to Vietnam on July 18 and 19 to warn officials from the Foreign Ministry and the central bank that North Korea had opened 10 accounts, according to the report, which was obtained by Lee Young Hwa, a professor of economics at Japan''s Kansai University.

"Because of illegal business activities by the North Korean military and espionage organizations, such as the sale of drugs, counterfeit money and fake tobacco, the country is even losing regular bank accounts," Lee said. "This report shows North Korea''s frustration and desperation."

Vietnam''s central bank is "seriously" investigating money transactions in the country, the report says.

Le Dung, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, declined to comment on the report, which was issued by unidentified agencies in the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The U.S. Treasury has been using its authority under international banking laws and the Patriot Act to cut off money that it says North Korea gets from drug trafficking and counterfeiting as a way to put pressure on the country to stop trying to develop nuclear weapons.

"The U.S. continues to encourage financial institutions to carefully assess the risk of holding any North Korea-related accounts," Levey said Thursday. The distinction between legal and illegal money held by North Korea is almost invisible, he said, while declining to comment on his visit to Vietnam.

Levey visited South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Singapore in July to discuss issues such as money laundering and global financial security, according to a Treasury Department statement issued July 18 in Seoul.

North Korea''s Tanchon Commercial Bank and Daedong Cre*** Bank opened the accounts in Vietnam, the report says, adding that the country has new agreements with 23 banks in 10 countries, including Mongolia and Russia.

The report, written in Japanese, says North Korea opened new accounts after the U.S. Treasury in September accused the Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank, of helping North Korea launder money.

Macao''s government took control of the bank and froze $24 million in its accounts.