Women leave a branch of Banco Delta Asia in Macau on March 16. AP PHOTO

A Feb. 13 agreement gives Pyongyang 60 days to shut down its nuclear facilities and to allow U.N. monitors to verify the closures. In return, the regime is to receive energy and economic assistance, and a start toward normalizing relations with the United States and Japan.

South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said March 20 discussions focused on the timing and other details necessary to shut down Pyongyang's nuclear facilities by the April 14 deadline, and on deciding on the next steps after that.

All parties agreed the North's disarmament must be irreversible and the inspections to verify the shutdown will be vital, Chun said.

Under the agreement, North Korea is to receive assistance equivalent to 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil if it fully discloses and dismantles all its nuclear programs.

The talks between envoys from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China resumed March 19 shortly after the United States announced that a key sticking point -- North Korean funds frozen in the Macau lender Banco Delta Asia -- had been resolved.

The United States said the frozen funds would be returned to the North on the condition they be used "for the betterment of the North Korean people."

The Japan Times Weekly: March 24, 2007
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