WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Wednesday a plan to resolve the financial dispute with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by formally barring U.S. financial institutions from dealing with the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA).

    "When it takes effect in 30 days, this action will prohibit all U.S. financial institutions from maintaining correspondent accounts for BDA and prevents BDA from accessing the U.S. financial system, either directly or indirectly," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

    This move will clear the way for the DPRK to recover at least some of the frozen funds in the bank. A total of some 25 million dollars are frozen in the Macao bank.

    As part of the nuclear deal reached during the six-party talks in Beijing on Feb. 13, the United States agreed to settle the financial dispute with the DPRK within 30 days. The United States has accused the DPRK of using the bank to launder illegal earnings and the DPRK has urged the United States to lift the sanctions.

    The United States slapped sanctions on Banco Delta Asia in 2005and put it on a money-laundering blacklist, prompting Macao to freeze the 24 million dollars believed to belong to the DPRK. In return, the DPRK boycotted the subsequent six-party talks for more than one year.