CHINA:Talks to begin the process of making North Korea nuclear-free resumed in the Chinese capital yesterday, with the atmosphere brightening considerably after the United States agreed to release all of the North's assets frozen at a Macau bank, thus removing a major sticking point.
North Korea had boycotted the discussions for more than a year after the US alleged that it was using the tiny Macau lender, Banco Delta Asia, to launder money and process counterfeit currency. The talks in Beijing are attended by both Koreas, the US, Russia, Japan and China.
Christopher Hill, the top US nuclear envoy, said the US and North Korea had reached an agreement "on the full return of funds" and that the return of the €18.8 million will take place as soon as possible.
US deputy assistant treasury secretary Daniel Glaser said the money would be transferred to a North Korean account at the Bank of China in Beijing to be used for education and humanitarian purposes. Mr Glaser said North Korea had proposed the arrangement.
"We believe this resolves the issue of the DPRK-related frozen funds," Mr Glaser said.
Last week, the US said it had finished its investigation into the bank and it would be cut off from the US financial system, leaving it up to the Macau authorities to decide what to do with the money.
In a brief statement, Macau's monetary authority said the money would be freed up "in accordance with the instructions of the account holders".
Resolving the financial issue was not a part of the deal struck last month, in which the North promised to shut down its key nuclear facilities within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.
However, the North Koreans had said they would not shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facilities as promised until all its frozen funds were released.
The North's top envoy to the talks, Kim Kye-kwan, was reportedly unaware of the announcement that the US would release Pyongyang's funds when he arrived for the six-party talks early in the day and initially addressed the delegates quite frostily.
According to Kyodo news agency, he relaxed his position on learning of the news. While Pyongyang would have to confirm the actual release of the money before halting its nuclear activities at Yongbyon, he said that building trust between the six participants was the most important thing.
The six countries yesterday began discussing the details of what needed to be done next to implement the deal, as well as what actions North Korea needs to take during the open-ended second phase of the February deal, and how much aid will be shipped to the impoverished North at each step.
South Korea has been particularly keen to maintain the impetus in the talks. It wants talks to arrange the meeting of foreign ministers from the six countries, proposed in the February agreement, to follow the first 60 days of North Korean disarmament.
"Our delegation and those of others believe that one of the objectives of this round has to be setting the time and venue of the six-way foreign ministerial meeting," said Chun Yung-woo, Seoul's chief delegate to the nuclear negotiations.
This week's round, the first since last month's agreement, is to last until tomorrow.