MOSCOW, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The designated Russian bank has not received the funds of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) transferred from a Macao bank, thus hindering an expected step to open fresh nuclear talks, a Russian minister said on Monday.

    The U.S. Department of Treasury has guaranteed no sanctions against the bank involved in the money transfer, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin as saying.

    The Dalkombank (Far East Commercial Bank), based in Russia's far eastern city of Khabarovsk, however, has not yet received the funds due to technical problems, he told reporters at an investors conference here.

    The reports did not specify the technical problems.

    The DPRK's ambassador to Russia, Kim Yong Che, however, said those funds have arrived at the Central Bank of Russia and will be transferred to the DPRK foreign trade bank via a Russian bank in Khabarovsk, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

    The ambassador reaffirmed the DPRK's readiness to fulfill all its commitments undertaken at the six-party talks, a multi-national negotiation on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

    The next round of the six-party talks, involving the DPRK, the United States, China, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan, will start at the beginning of July, Itar-Tass said, citing an anonymous diplomatic source.

    The DPRK has insisted that its 25 million U.S. dollars frozen at the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia must be returned before it shuts down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and starts new talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

    The money was remitted last Thursday reportedly to the New York Federal Reserve and was expected to be delivered to the Russian bank.

    Pyongyang, in response, has invited a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss the shutdown of its Yongbyon nuclear facilities under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in February.

    The DPRK funds were frozen after the United States blacklisted the bank in September 2005 for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money, an allegation denied by both the bank and Pyongyang.

    Official: DPRK money to be transferred to Russia bank

    MOSCOW, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A senior Russian diplomat said on Thursday that 25 million U.S. dollars of frozen money owned by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in a Macau-based bank will be transferred to a Russian bank.

    The DPRK money in the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) "will be transferred to an appropriate account at one of the Russian banks in the Far East," the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as saying, who refused to name the bank.  Full story

    Macao-based bank remits DPRK-linked $20 mln

    MACAO, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank, has remitted a sum of over 20 million U.S. dollars out of Macao, raising hopes for solving the impasse over the denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

    A government press release from the Information Bureau issued on late Thursday quoted Francis Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, as saying that the money is from dozens of accounts and the remittance was done according to the instruction of several dozens of clients from the DPRK. Full story