N Korea commits to reactor shutdown in frozen funds dispute

North Korea said yesterday it is holding "brisk" negotiations to settle a banking dispute and will start shutting down its nuclear program as soon as a settlement is reached.

The North will invite UN atomic agency inspectors "the moment the actual defreezing of the frozen funds in the bank has been confirmed," official media said.

It was the second time in a week that the communist state has pledged to start shutting down its Yongbyon reactor as soon as the dispute over US$25 million that had been frozen in Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) is resolved.

The North committed itself to shutting down and sealing Yongbyon in the presence of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, under the first phase of a Feb. 13 six-nation disarmament pact.

The North "still remains unchanged in its will to implement the Feb. 13 agreement, but what matters is that it cannot move as the issue of frozen funds has not yet been completely settled," the Korean Central News agency reported.

It said it was quoting a message sent yesterday by Ri Je-Son, head of the country's atomic energy department, to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

The agency said the message responded to an IAEA request on Tuesday to send a delegation to North Korea.

"Working negotiations are now brisk between a DPRK [North Korea] bank and [BDA] to settle the issue," the message said.

"The DPRK is ready to invite the above-said delegation of the IAEA the moment the actual defreezing of the frozen funds in the bank has been confirmed and discuss the issues of suspending the operation of the nuclear facility in Yongbyon and verifying and monitoring procedures," it said.

The US Treasury blacklisted BDA in September 2005, alleging that some of the North Korean accounts there were the proceeds of money-laundering and counterfeiting.