North Korea requests transfer of Macau funds to accounts in Russia, Italy

North Korea has asked Macau authorities to transfer its funds there to financial institutions in Russia and Italy, possibly clearing the way for Pyongyang to fulfill its nuclear disarmament obligations, Japanese media said Monday.

The North missed the April 14 deadline to shut down its main reactor, as agreed under a February deal with the U.S. and four other nations, citing a failure to release its funds at Macau-based Banco Delta Asia or BDA.

North Korea had made shutting down the reactor contingent on the release of the money, frozen after the U.S. blacklisted BDA, where the North had 52 accounts allegedly linked to money laundering and counterfeiting.

The US$25 million (€18.6 million) was freed for withdrawal earlier in April, but has not been moved for unspecified reasons.

North Korean officials held talks Saturday with authorities in the Chinese territory of Macau, and requested that some of the money be transferred to unspecified financial institutions in Russia and Italy, Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported.

It cited China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei as telling Japanese ruling-party lawmakers, in Beijing for a friendship visit, about the development.

The paper said Wu told the Japanese delegation, headed by former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, that North Korea made the proposal for a transfer and that there was no political issue over the move, indicating that North had already obtained U.S. consent.

Officials at Komura's office could not immediately be reached for comment Monday, a national holiday in Japan

Japan's Asahi newspaper said Monday that the North asked Macau authorities to transfer the funds in U.S. dollar or euro to North Korean bank accounts in Russia and Italy.

A BDA spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking confirmation of the report. Spokeswoman Wendy Au at the Monetary Authority of Macau said she had no updates about the funds.

On Sunday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified senior BDA official as saying that Macau financial authorities had ordered the bank to prepare for a transfer.

Banks in Singapore, Vietnam and Mongolia _ where North Korea opened accounts _ could be used in transferring the money as early as this week, Yonhap quoted the official as saying.