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Aide sees hope for N. Korea nuke deal

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 11, 2007

PYONGYANG, North Korea - A U.S. nuclear negotiator expressed hope Tuesday that North Korea could still meet a weekend deadline for taking initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear program as a Bush administration official warned that time was running out.

The optimism from Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill came after the U.S. Treasury Department said authorities in the Chinese-administered region of Macau were prepared to unblock frozen funds that North Korea says are the reason it has refused to implement a disarmament agreement.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that Macau authorities have made the funds available for withdrawal, citing remarks by a spokeswoman for the Monetary Authority of Macau.

A call to a spokesman of Banco Delta Asia, where the funds are being held, was not immediately returned Tuesday. The bank had been blacklisted by Washington for allegedly helping the North launder money, and its North Korean accounts were frozen.

The bank has denied any wrongdoing.

"It's obviously a big step that I think should clear the way for the (North) to step up the process of dealing with its obligations within the 60-day period," Hill said in Seoul.

North Korea agreed Feb. 13 to close and seal its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon within 60 days, a deadline coming up Saturday.

But that pledge was conditional on a parallel U.S. promise to liberate the funds in Macau within 30 days, a deadline that came and went as the Treasury Department, North Korea, the Macau Monetary Authority, the Bank of China and the Chinese Foreign Ministry haggled over who should get the money and under what conditions.

South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Young-woo said the hold on all North Korean accounts at Banco Delta Asia would be lifted this morning.

[Last modified April 11, 2007, 02:27:47]