BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The way toward shutting down nuclear facilities in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has become clearer with the U.S. agreement to unfreeze a DPRK bank account, said a top nuclear negotiator from the Republic of Korea (ROK) Monday evening.

    The sixth round of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue started in good atmosphere and all the delegations expressed their will for substantive results in this round of multilateral talks, said Chun Yung Woo, ROK chief negotiator to the talks.

    According to Chun, the DPRK has expressed its hope to have in-depth discussions and reach an agreement with other parties on the measures to be taken after the initial-steps phase.

    The declaration and disablement of the DPRK's nuclear facilities will be key topics in the future sessions of the talks, Chun added.

    Chun said delegates to the talks hoped to fix a date for the meeting of foreign ministers of the six parties, but it depends onthe progress of this round of talks.

    The ROK's goal was to set a date and place for the foreign minister meeting, Chun said.

    The United States agreed Monday to transfer the DPRK's 25 million U.S. dollars frozen at Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA) into the Bank of China in Beijing, paving the way for progress of the talks.

    In September 2005, the U.S. Treasury Department, suspecting the BDA of helping the DPRK launder money, ordered American financial institutions to suspend business ties with the Macao-based bank, which subsequently froze the U.S. dollar accounts held by the DPRK.

    Rejecting the charge, the DPRK demanded the U.S. lift the financial sanctions before it could return to the six-party talks, which remained stalled for 13 months since the end of 2005.

    As part of the nuclear deal reached during last round talks in Beijing on Feb. 13, the United States agreed to settle the financial dispute with the DPRK within 30 days.