US Urges North Korea to Begin Denuclearization

Jun 15, 04:24 AM

Current Headlines: Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Yonhap) - The United States on Thursday urged North Korea to start implementing its pledge to denuclearize as soon as a banking dispute that has delayed the process is resolved.

"We are ready. That has been our position for some time," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"I hope the North Koreans would follow through the actions on what they have on multiple times... told us," which is that they intend to carry out their obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement, he said.

"We look forward to that."

Macanese authorities confirmed more than US$20 million of North Korean-related funds have been transferred out of Banco Delta Asia (BDA), removing a major obstacle to the resumption of six-nation talks on Korea's denuclearization.

The BDA had frozen some $25 million in North Korea-held accounts after the US Treasury accused it of laundering money for the Pyongyang regime. In a multi-party negotiated settlement, the bank wired part of the funds which is eventually expected to arrive at a Russian commercial bank.

It was not yet clear whether all of the funds would eventually be transferred, as demanded initially by North Korea.

Neither the White House nor the State Department would confirm the transfer, leaving details and comments to the directly involved parties, which McCormack named as Macau, China and North Korea.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the US appreciates Russia's role in the process.

In Seoul, Chun Yung-woo, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, confirmed the transfer and urged North Korea to immediately start implementing its denuclearization commitments.

"It should not take too much time to send the money, so the only process left is for North Korea to confirm the transfer," Chun told reporters Friday upon arriving at Seoul's Inchon International Airport.

The envoy had been on a trip to the United States where he held talks with US counterparts on the banking issue and the resumption of the six-nation talks.

Chun said it was too early to discuss the resumption of the nuclear negotiations, but said they would resume shortly after Pyongyang implements its February pledge to disarm. The prolonged dispute over the BDA funds had delayed a deal struck in February between South and North Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan. The first-phase steps involve Pyongyang's shutdown of its key nuclear facilities in return for heavy fuel oil provided by other parties.

Christopher Hill, top US delegate to the six-party talks, was to arrive in Mongolia for a regional conference over the weekend. He is scheduled to stop in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo after the conference.

"He will talk about... what it is that we, the five parties, need to do under the (Feb. 13) agreement" and what the North Koreans need to do, McCormack said.

It is still premature to talk about resuming the six-party talks, he said.

"Once you have some movement on implementing the Feb. 13 agreement, I think you can expect a conversation about that," McCormack said.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.