US envoy upbeat on N.Korea nuke talks 
  (Agencies)  Updated: 2007-03-15 15:11   
 
Talks on Pyongyang's commitment to close its main nuclear 
reactor in exchange for energy aid were expected to gain momentum, the chief US 
nuclear negotiator said Thursday, after the US took steps that could lead to the 
unfreezing of North Korean funds held at a Macau bank.   
 
 
  The US Treasury announced in Washington it had wrapped up an 
investigation of a Macau bank that the United States accused of helping North 
Korea launder money from counterfeiting and other illegal activities.   
 
 
   The thorny financial case had upset the North Koreans, 
who indicated in talks Wednesday with the chief UN nuclear inspector that 
they were still on line to close the Yongbyon reactor within a month, as long as 
Washington meets its promise to drop financial sanctions.   
 
 
 
  "We'll be having some consultations, I'm sure, in really the 
hours and days ahead ... with the six-party process again getting going this 
weekend," US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters 
Thursday.   
 
 
  The six parties -- the two Koreas, 
the United States, China, Russia and Japan -- agreed last month that North Korea 
would get energy aid and political concessions for closing the reactor.   
 
  International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei 
also offered an encouraging assessment of the month-old nuclear disarmament 
pact, saying North Korean officials told him they were "fully committed" to 
implementing the deal to shut the reactor and welcome back UN inspectors. 
  
 
 
 
  The officials said they were "ready to work with the 
agency to make sure that we monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon" 
nuclear reactor, ElBaradei told reporters after the first IAEA visit to North 
Korea since its inspectors were kicked out four years ago.   
 
 
  He added, however, the deal between the US, North Korea and 
four other countries was still "fragile."   
 
  The 
Yongbyon reactor is believed to have produced plutonium for North Korea's 
nuclear test blast on October 9.   
  North Korean 
officials told ElBaradei they were waiting for the United States to drop 
financial sanctions that included a freeze on overseas assets, he said.   
 
   A particularly sore spot 
for the North Korean government has been the freezing of accounts in a 
bank in Macau, which include what Washington says are more than US$25 million 
(euro18.96 million) in North Korean assets.  
 
 
 
  Washington said Wednesday it would order US banks to sever 
ties with Banco Delta Asia, a measure that could in fact help the bank by 
replacing the blanket allegations with a definitive and limited US restriction. 
  
 
  The US Treasury Department also is expected to help 
overseas regulators identify individual account holders' risk of involvement in 
illicit activities. This assessment could be used by Macau to release money that 
has been frozen.   
 
 
  An Australian diplomat who returned 
from Pyongyang on Thursday also said North Korea remained committed to the 
agreement.   
 
  "I heard nothing in my discussions with 
the North Korean officials to indicate they were backtracking from that 
(agreement) or seeking to impose new conditions," said Peter Baxter, head of the 
North Asia Division of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 
  
 
 
 
  Japan, however, was more muted in its response, 
saying that it doubted the US move would bring about any breakthroughs in the 
nuclear weapons dispute.   
 
  "I do not think this will 
lead to any sudden change in direction," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa 
Shiozaki said in Tokyo.   
  ElBaradei was to meet 
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Thursday and Hill on Friday.   
 
 Three other lower-level meetings, as required by last 
month's agreement, will also be held this week before the heads of the six party 
delegations meet on Monday.   
 
  One of the meetings to 
start Thursday will look at what sort of energy aid North Korea will get, South 
Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said.   
 
 The talks "are not aimed at reaching 
any special conclusion, but rather to hear what it is that North Korea wants and 
what the other countries can do to meet such North Korean requests," he said.  
 
 
 
   
	
	 
	
	 
 
  
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