N Korea 'will allow nuclear inspection if funds released'

North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator told US envoys today that his government would immediately invite UN nuclear inspectors into the country if £12.7m (€18.6m) in disputed funds were released.

Vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan met Bill Richardson, a Democratic US presidential candidate, and Anthony Principi, US President George Bush’s former veteran affairs secretary, who were visiting Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.

Mr Kim “indicated that the North Korean government would invite the... inspectors back the moment the funds are released to the North Korean government,” Mr Principi told reporters after the meeting.

Mr Kim also told the US delegation of the difficulty of shutting down the country’s main nuclear reactor by a Saturday deadline called for in a February nuclear disarmament accord, he said.

“They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult,” Mr Principi said.

The delegation, which also includes Victor Cha, Mr Bush’s top adviser on North Korea, is on a four-day trip to Pyongyang to recover the remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War. Mr Richardson, governor of New Mexico and a former ambassador to the UN, said yesterday that he had no intention of negotiating nuclear matters.

There has been little progress in implementing the landmark February 13 nuclear agreement in which North Korea promised to take initial steps towards dismantling its nuclear programme, including closing its main nuclear reactor and providing a full list of its nuclear facilities.

In Tokyo, the top US nuclear envoy said today that the deadline for North Korea to shut down its nuclear reactor was becoming difficult to meet because of the ongoing dispute over the frozen North Korean funds.

“Clearly, we’re aiming for the complete implementation of the February agreement by day 60... but that timeline is becoming difficult,” said Christopher Hill, who is in Japan to discuss the next stage of the nuclear talks.

The impoverished North has refused to move forward due to the delayed transfer of the money frozen by Macau authorities after the US blacklisted a bank in the Chinese-administered region in 2005 for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money.

Last week, the US State Department said a hitch stalling the release of the funds had been resolved, potentially clearing the way for the disbursement of the money. No details were released on when or how the money would be transferred.

Macau government spokeswoman Elena Au said she had no immediate comment today. Calls to Macau’s monetary authority and the blacklisted bank, Banco Delta Asia, went unanswered.

Mr Richardson said his delegation pushed Mr Kim for a show of good faith that North Korea was ready to move forward in its obligations under the February 13 deal. He said the US side asked for a meeting of the six nations involved in the nuclear disarmament talks before the Saturday deadline.

“Our negotiators are ready to meet with the North Koreans immediately so that this effort to dismantle their nuclear weapons is concluded,” Mr Richardson said.

He said he was hoping to travel to the reactor site in Yongbyon, 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of Pyongyang, but there were a lot of “political issues involved.” He did not elaborate.

Reporters were allowed to view the first minutes of the meeting between Mr Kim and the Americans. Mr Kim said the visit was the first that included both Democratic and Republican American officials since Mr Bush took office.

“In light of current international relations and (North Korea)-US relations, your current visit to our country is of very great significance,” Mr Kim said through an interpreter.

As the officials met, hundreds of children and women in brightly coloured traditional Korean dresses practised dances which they will perform on Sunday, when North Koreans celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country’s founding president and the father of current leader Kim Jong Il.

Mr Richardson has regularly made diplomatic trips, often on his own initiative, to global hot spots. Although visits to North Korea by senior US officials are rare, this was Mr Richardson’s sixth.

He said the timing of his visit was important and would show North Korea the US’s good intentions.

Mr Richardson’s group was expected to oversee the transfer of remains from the North Korean army to UN personnel.

On Wednesday, the delegation plans to drive from Pyongyang to South Korea, hopefully with the US remains. However, Mr Richardson said the way North Korea typically operates made it difficult to predict how the trip would go.