THERE were signs of progress yesterday on the issue of U.S. financial sanctions that have frozen some US$25 million in funds of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as envoys met in Beijing to discuss a schedule to dismantle the DPRK’s nuclear programs.

A senior Chinese official said that the United States and the DPRK had devised a solution on the funds, now frozen in a Macao bank.

State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, the Chinese Government’s most senior official in charge of foreign policy, told a group of visiting Japanese lawmakers about the U.S.-DPRK deal. The brief report did not provide details on the agreement.

The DPRK deposits have been frozen in the Banco Delta Asia since Washington blacklisted the small, privately run Macao-based bank 19 months ago on suspicion the funds were connected to money-laundering or counterfeiting.

Washington promised to resolve the issue by mid-March as part of an agreement on DPRK’s nuclear disarmament last month.

Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said he had explained the U.S. position on the funds to DPRK’s envoys Saturday.

“We have the sense that they understood the position much better. So we’ll see,” Hill told reporters at his hotel yesterday before leaving for meetings ahead of a formal resumption of six-party nuclear talks today.

On Saturday, DPRK nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan told reporters that his country “will not stop its nuclear activity” until the entire US$25 million in the frozen accounts is released.

But later in the day, another DPRK diplomat, Kim Song Gi, said the country had “begun preparations to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility” as agreed under the Feb. 13 pact. Kim’s comments were relayed by South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo.

Chun did not independently confirm if shutdown preparations had begun.

Meanwhile, a former South Korean lawmaker, Jang Sung-min, said yesterday that the DPRK has proposed speeding up the process of dismantling and destroying its nuclear facilities and weapons in exchange for U.S. concessions.

(SD-Agencies)