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BEIJING: North Korean nuclear disarmament talks dragged into a fourth day Thursday as Chinese authorities worked frantically to clear a surprise roadblock to the tortuous six-party negotiations.
The Stalinist regime has refused since Monday to hold any further discussions about an accord to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme until it sees US$25m in frozen funds safely back in its bank accounts.
The United States, which froze the money in a Macau bank in 2005 due to accusations of North Korean money laundering and counterfeiting, said at the beginning of the week it would allow the money to be returned.
Chief US envoy Christopher Hill and other negotiators in the six-nation talks had expected North Korea to be satisfied with the move, and that they would spend the next few days fleshing out a roadmap for disarmament.
But, due to a myriad of technical problems, the money has not been sent from Macau to a North Korean account with the Bank of China in Beijing, leaving the envoys frustrated and left with little to do but sit in their hotel rooms.
"We must not waste our time and we must swiftly go into discussions over issues of substance," chief Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae told reporters on Thursday, as negotiators awaited news on the transfer of the money.
The talks - which involve China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia - were scheduled to end after three days.
But with no progress made, China called the envoys together late Wednesday to ask them to stay at least one more day, while assuring them that Chinese authorities were working to have the money transferred quickly.
"China is the one who is making the main efforts over this so we just have to go and listen to the outcome of their efforts," Sasae said.
Hill repeated on Thursday that he believed the money transfer should not have sabotaged this week's talks.
"This was a procedural, form-filling issue," Hill told reporters, adding he could offer no explanation for the North Koreans' negotiating tactics.
"The day I explain to you the North Korean thinking is the day I have been in this process too long."
China had still not scheduled any firm meeting of the chief envoys on Thursday morning, indicating they had yet to secure the transfer of the money.
An official involved in the talks said on Wednesday the transfer was taking a long time partly because some North Korean bank account owners had died or were not living in Macau.
Under a six-nation accord signed on February 13, North Korea agreed to initially shut down its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon by mid-April and allow UN inspectors back into the country.
In return, the impoverished regime would initially receive 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel for energy use.
North Korea, which conducted its first atomic weapons test in October last year, would eventually receive one million tonnes of heavy fuel or equivalent energy aid if it permanently dismantled its nuclear weapons programme. - AFP/yy
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