Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) – 25 million dollars belonging to the North Korean government (frozen in a Macao bank since 2005) will be made available to the authorities “very soon”.  The US government confirmed the move today, stating that a solution had been found to the financial dispute that has been long contested by North Korea. This “clears the way for progress in talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme”.

The Macao account had been blocked by Washington, who accused Pyongyang of money laundering and counterfeiting.   

After the US Treasury Department announced the deal, Christopher Hill, US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said: “We feel this matter has been resolved and now we can move on to the next problems, of which there are many”.

The question of the frozen funds emerged in the last round of “six party talks on nuclear disarmament” held in Beijing February 13th last.  During discussion between the six nations– China, Russia, United States, Japan and the two Koreas – the Pyongyang delegate defined the issue of the blocked Macao accounts “an argument impossible to ignore”.  

Under last month's deal, North Korea - which conducted its first atomic test in a mine October last year --, agreed to shutting down its nuclear programmes in return for one million tonnes of heavy fuel or equivalent energy aid.

By freeing up the funds,  Hill explained, “North Korea has been satisfied, now we look forward to that process continuing in the next 30 days so that we will have the shutdown of the Yongbyon facility and the sealing of it and the monitoring of it by IAEA personnel, as laid out in the Beijing accord”. At the same time, the US “will make sure the first shipment of fuel oil reaches its destination on time”.

South Korea, has already said it will provide the initial batch of 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil, welcomed the development. Chief South Korean envoy Chun Yung-Woo, stated that “Since the issue has been resolved, there will be no big obstacles for disabling North Korea's nuclear facilities”.

Tokyo has expressed the same optimism, but underlined “that Kim Jong-il’s regime cannot always be trusted” requesting “a constant, day to day control of the situation”. For its part China maintains that “despite the improved general situation, a lot of work remains to be done”.