The transfer of the North Korean funds frozen at a Macau bank to its account has faced technical hurdles in Moscow in the final stage, news reports said.
The money has reached Moscow from a Macau bank and was awaiting deposit in North Korean accounts, a South Korean official said on condition of anonymity due to the subject's sensitivity.
But currently, no Russian bank has publicly acknowledged receiving the funds or even an official request to do so, and a Russian state-run news agency also suggested their transfer was not a done deal, according to reports.
"Consultations among specialists from the interested sides have not yet been completed, as certain technical questions require clarification," ITAR-Tass News Agency quoted an unidentified government official as saying in Moscow.
"The technical problems could continue to remain till Monday as working hours of financial institutions in Moscow have come nearer to the close and this leads to weekend," Yonhap News Agency quoted a source who requested not to be identified as saying.
It is reported that some US$20 million of the total US$25 million at Banco Delta Asia (DBA) is to be deposited into a North Korean idle account at a Russian private bank in the Far Eastern area via the Russian central bank, once the money is transferred from a Macau bank to the U.S. central bank, Federal Reserve, in New York.
On the other hand, five of the six countries involved in the North Korea's denuclearization talks have wondered why the North Korea has no reaction to the recent development of funds transfer.
North Korea has made the access to the funds as a key condition for taking steps to fulfill a pledge to disband nuclear program in Yongbyon.
But in the contrary, North Korea Friday warned it may strengthen its "self-defense deterrent," a term it usually uses to refer to its nuclear program, despite favorable development of banking issue.
The comments came in a statement from the communist regime criticizing U.S. efforts to build a missile defense system.
"The U.S. is claiming that it is building a global missile defence system to protect against missile attacks from our nation and Iran. This is a childish pretext," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
"We cannot but further strengthen our self-defense deterrent if an arms race intensifies because of the U.S. maneuvers," it said.
“This seems to be another tactic not to act on its pledge to dismantle its nuclear facilities and further to delay its return to the six-party talks on denuclearization of North Korea,” an official in Seoul said, adding that North Korea will have to come out to keep the promise it has made as soon as possible.
The U.S. and its other allies have also urged Pyongyang to fulfill its pledge to start dismantling its nuclear program now that the money issue appears to have been resolved.