The United States said Tuesday that North Korea is actively working to revolve the issue of frozen assets in Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) and it is willing to give North Korea more time to resolve this complex issue.
"There are indications that they are actively working to resolve the BDA issue. We have said that we're going to give them a little time and space to do that. It's incredibly complicated and arcane. So it has taken much longer than anybody would have expected," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
North Korean government has reassured the United States multiple times throughout this entire period that they are committed to the Feb. 13 agreement, McCormack said.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on May 4 that he did not believe North Korea was stalling on a pledge to abandon its nuclear weapons.
Because of the lingering financial disputes between the United States and North Korea, North Korea missed an April 14 deadline to shut down its main nuclear reactor, which was specified as the first implementation phase of the Feb. 13 disarmament agreement.
North Korea has pledged to fulfill its commitment to implement the Feb. 13 agreement, saying it would invite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation to the country once it retrieves the US$25 million in funds frozen in the BDA.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2007)
