"The problem of striking [North Korea] off the [U.S.] list of states sponsoring terrorism is now a settled issue," Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said in Tokyo en route from the United States, as quoted by a leading South Korean newspaper, Chunang Ilbo lso.
Kye Gwan reiterated that Pyongyang would shut down its reactor in Yongbyon only after the United States lifted its financial sanctions, which were imposed in 2005.
North Korea's $24 million account in Banco Delta Asia in Macao was blocked at the request of the U.S. over counterfeiting and money laundering accusations against the regime, which prompted Pyongyang to withdraw from long-running talks on its nuclear program.
"We will make a decision to freeze our nuclear facilities only after U.S. financial sanctions have been lifted," the deputy minister said, adding that Washington has promised to have North Korean accounts unblocked within the next 30 days.
The diplomat said the lifting of other sanctions could follow, apparently referring to restrictions the UN Security Council unanimously imposed after the North conducted its first nuclear bomb test October 9.
Kye Gwan was in Washington for a meeting of a bilateral group to improve ties set up following breakthrough six-nation talks in Beijing in February, when Pyongyang agreed to shut down its nuclear reactor in exchange for energy, food and other aid supplies, and security guarantees.
The North is also party to a bilateral group with Japan. The two countries' talks to improve relations and restore trade ties, suspended since October, as well as Pyongyang's dialogue with South Korea, have yielded no results so far, but the countries pledged to continue contacts.
The diplomat said the foreign ministers of the six nations involved in the nuclear dispute - the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan - could meet in April. A higher-level meeting, he said, would "give a boost" to the nuclear negotiations.
China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday the next round of six-nation talks would take place March 19, adding that all five working groups to advance the North's denuclearization would be set up by then.
The other three groups are to address the denuclearization process, economic aid to the impoverished country, and security in northeast Asia. They will work in a multilateral format.
