North Korea was under pressure from negotiating partners yesterday to start shutting down its nuclear program, after an initial deadline for disarmament passed without action.
Despite Pyongyang's assurances that it will take the first step as soon as it confirms that a financial dispute has been settled, there were signs of frustration among states that have been bargaining with it since 2003.
South Korean newspapers said Seoul is considering delaying the shipment of crucial bilateral rice aid to the North until it takes action.
The top US nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill, expressed his unhappiness during a visit to Beijing on Sunday.
"Needless to say we are not happy that the DPRK [North Korea] has essentially missed this very important deadline," he told a press conference. "The ball is in their court."
"China has asked us to be patient for three or four days, that seems like a wise thing to do. It's not for the US to take unilateral actions," Hill said.
Japan urged speedy progress.
"Although the deadline has passed it is still extremely important for North Korea to take initial action as soon as possible," Noriyuki Shikata, a foreign ministry spokesman, warned on Sunday.
Since 2003, China has hosted six-party talks on scrapping the North's atomic program with the two Koreas, the US, Japan and Russia.
They assumed added urgency after the North tested its first atomic weapon last October.
The six reached a deal on Feb. 13 under which the North agreed to disable its programs in exchange for a million tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent aid, plus security and diplomatic benefits.
Under the first phase it was supposed by last Saturday to have shut down and sealed its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which produces the raw material to make plutonium for nuclear weapons. UN atomic inspectors were to have witnessed the shutdown.
But the deadline slipped due to delays in freeing up US$25 million in North Korean funds which had been frozen in a Macau bank at US instigation.
The US says the bank funds were freed for collection last week and there is no reason for further delay.
A North Korean foreign ministry official said on Friday that Pyongyang stood behind the February deal but would not act until it sees the money from the Macau bank.
The former US envoy Bill Richardson said on Sunday he was optimistic North Korea will begin the shutdown despite the delay.
"My prediction ... is that early this week, they will invite the inspectors. They will start the process of shutting down the reactor," he said.
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