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International efforts to denuclearize North Korea stalled Sunday as the communist country continued a waiting game over its demand for the United States to fully lift its financial sanctions imposed against the communist country.

In an aid-for-disarmament deal struck in Beijing on Feb. 13, North Korea agreed to start shutting down and sealing its key nculear facilities within 60 days in return for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.

If the first phase of the deal is successfully carried out, the North then is required to "disable" those closed facilities in exchange for an additional 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, or equivalent assistance.

Ahead of a new round of full six-party talks set to resume on Monday, the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia held a sereies of working sessions in Beijing in the past four days to assess the progress of the deal but could not move forward because of the financial sanctions dispute.

The dispute is over US$25 million of North Korean assets frozen at a macau-based bank, Banco Delta Asia, accused by Washington of money-laundering for North Korea.

In a side agreemeent with North Korea in December, the United States agreed to resolve the fiancial issue but the communist country said it has yet to get its money back.

Ending its 18-month-long investigation into the bank last week, the U.S. left it to Macau authorities to release all or part of the frozen North Korean assets. As of Sunday, the issue apparently was still pending.

Upon arrival in Beijing on Saturday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan made it clear that resolution of the financial issue is key to progress in the nuclear deal.

"We'll not shut down our nuclear reactor unless all of the money at the BDA is released," Kim said.

The U.S. tried to assure North Koreans that the issue will not be an obstacle.

"We finalized our ruling and potentially resolved the issue, but we had to have some consultations" with North Korea, Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, told reporters after the second day of a China-chaired working group meeting on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "I think we'll be able to make an announcement, a statement on that... very soon," he added.

Hill has yet to meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim.

In a one-sentence report Sunday night, China's Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese State Councilor Tang as saying that North Korea and the U.S. "had worked out a solution to the frozen funds at the Banco Delta Asia."

There was no official confirmation of the report by the Chinese government.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daneil Glaser, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday after consultations in Macau, declined direct comment on the fate of the North Korean money, saying only that Macau authorities have been "acting very responsibly about this matter throughout."

South Korea's nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo urged the U.S. and the North to find a quick solution to the financial issue.

South Korea tried to move forward the February deal by proposing that a firmer timeline be set to specify the timing and nature of the action North Korea should take to disarm in return for assistance, Chun said Saturday after the first day of the denuclearization working group meeting.

The nuclear talks are attended by South and North Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia and host China. The new round is expected to last until Wednesday, according to Chinese hosts.
Beijing, March 18 (Yonhap News)