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Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said Wednesday a banking dispute over North Korean funds at a Macau bank is in the "final stage of solution," implying an imminent breakthrough in the standoff over the North's nuclear dismantlement.

"But it's too early to say exactly when it will be resolved. It is part of a long journey to our ultimate goal of achieving the North's nuclear dismantlement," Song said in a press briefing.

He said countries concerned were in the stage of making a final decision, while South Korea is engaged in communication with the related countries with a view to playing a more active role in the long term. He declined to elaborate on what concrete measures they are taking now.

Song's remarks reinforced growing optimism that the banking dispute over North Korea's US$25 million frozen at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) will be resolved soon.

Earlier in the day, a Japanese media report said North Korea withdrew part of its assets in cash from the bank last week. A well-placed South Korean government source denied the report, but said all of the funds will be legally wired to the North by Saturday.

In Washington, Chun Young-woo, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, said Tuesday the ball is now in Pyongyang's court on implementing its commitments under the February denuclearization deal.

Chun, who met Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and talked extensively with his U.S. counterpart, Christopher Hill, said his talks with the U.S. officials looked ahead to what needs to be done after North Korea's actions.

"We talked about how we can make up for the lost time, implementing the Feb. 13 agreement as soon as possible, and how to avoid further delay in the implementation," the envoy told South Korean reporters.

He said the banking issue would be resolved in a way demanded by the North Koreans. But as to when, Chun said it would be up to Pyongyang.

"But there is no reason for this to take a long time," he said.

The envoy came to the U.S. amid indications that a major obstacle to the six-party process will soon be removed. South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan are the participants in the process aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

The Feb. 13 deal requires Pyongyang to shut down its key nuclear facilities and invite back inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a U.N. nuclear watchdog, for monitoring.

The deadline for North Korea's first steps toward denuclearization under the agreement, April 14, passed without any action by Pyongyang. One condition North Korea demanded for implementing the agreement was the release of its funds held at the small Macanese bank that were frozen after the U.S. Treasury accused the bank of laundering money for the North. The U.S. was expected to help transfer the funds via Russia.

Chun said a recent South Korea-Russia foreign ministers' meeting in Seoul provided a "critical moment" in resolving the BDA issue, with Moscow offering to help.

A South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said discussions with U.S. officials this week focused heavily on what he called the "post-BDA" scenario.

One of them was how an initiative similar to the Nunn-Lugar program, designed for securing and dismantling weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in states of the former Soviet Union, might be applied to North Korea, he said.

Chun met with experts on the issue during his visit to gain "technical advice" on disablement and verification processes, according to the official.

Formally known as the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, the Nunn-Lugar initiative set up an annual globally-collected budget of close to $400 million for WMD dismantlement as well as for training and re-employment of Soviet nuclear scientists and to clean up nuclear material and sites. South Korea is one of the contributors to the budget.

"North Korea will require the same kind of procedure," the official said.

The Nunn-Lugar program restricts budget expenditure on activities outside of former Soviet states, but the official said it could be used for North Korea as well.

On the BDA resolution, he said it has been forged in a way consistent with U.S. laws and systems. Some American congressmen have questioned whether Washington's role in the money transfer was legal.

"The resolution addresses 100 percent of Pyongyang's demands," the official said.
SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap News)