hankyoreh

North Korea invited officials from the U.N. nuclear watchdog Saturday, raising hopes for a breakthrough in the North's stalled denuclearization procedures, the North's state media reported.

The communist North has been refusing to honor a Feb. 13 international agreement to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs unless its US$25 million at Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) is released.

"Ri Je-son, director general of the General Department of Atomic Energy of the DPRK, Saturday sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding the discussion of the procedures of ...the suspension of the operation of nuclear facilities at Yongbyon under the Feb. 13 agreement," the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The invitation noted that a working-level delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been invited to visit North Korea, as the process of releasing the funds has reached its final phase, the KCNA added.

The funds once frozen in the BDA, a small bank in Macau, has been the main obstacle to the progress of the six-way talks that involve the United States, China, Russia, Japan, and the two Koreas.

Christopher Hill, chief negotiator for the U.S. in the talks, was quoted as saying in foreign media that the funds were reported to be in Russia.

Hill, who was staying in Ultan Bator, Mongolia for an international forum, said that although there are some technical problems in remitting the funds to the North's accounts, the issue will be fully resolved soon and the nuclear talks could be reconvened early next month, according to the reports.

The U.S. official also told Yonhap News Agency earlier that he expects the six-party talks to resume "pretty soon," possibly this month. After attending a weekend conference in Mongolia, he is scheduled to stop in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo on his way back to discuss the next phase of the February deal.

Meanwhile, Seoul officials maintained a cautious stance toward the North's invitation, with one Foreign Ministry official, who requested to be unnamed, arguing that "close tabs should be kept on whether the actual measures (of dismantling) are realized step-by-step."

First-phase actions require North Korea to shut down its key nuclear installation and accept international inspections. Hill said he expects Pyongyang to take those steps as soon as possible.

The BDA had frozen the money in late 2005 after the U.S. Treasury accused it of laundering money for the North's illicit financial activities.

North Korea kicked out IAEA inspectors at the end of 2002 and quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in January 2003 after Washington accused Pyongyang of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium.

SEOUL, June 16 (Yonhap News)