NK Urged to Act on Nuclear Program

South Korea and the United States have urged North Korea to implement its side of pledged actions on denuclearization as a banking dispute is nearly resolved.

"We are ready. That has been our position for some time," Yonhap News Agency quoted State Department spokesman Sean McCormack saying Thursday.

"I hope the North Koreans would follow through the actions on what they have on multiple times... told us," which is that they intend to carry out their obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement, he said.

"We look forward to that."

Macanese authorities confirmed more than $20 million of North Korean-related funds have been transferred out of Banco Delta Asia (BDA), removing a major obstacle to resuming six-nation talks on Korea's denuclearization.

Chun Yung-woo, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, who returned to Seoul from his trip to Washington, also confirmed the transfer, calling on North Korea to immediately start implementing its denuclearization commitments.

``The transfer is in progress,'' the Associated Press quoted Chun as saying upon his arrival at Seoul's Incheon International Airport early Friday.

``Let's wait and see how long it takes for North Korea to confirm it.'' Chun was quoted as saying. In Washington, he met his U.S. counterpart over the nuclear standoff, but he did not provide further details of the transfer.

Resolving the banking dispute constitutes ``removing the first obstacle to implementing'' the February disarmament deal, Chun said.

Chun said it was too early to discuss the resumption of the nuclear negotiations, but said they would resume shortly after Pyongyang implements its February pledge to disarm.

The prolonged dispute over the BDA funds had delayed a deal struck in February between South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. The first-phase steps involve Pyongyang's shutdown of its key nuclear facilities in return for heavy fuel oil provided by other parties.

Christopher Hill, top U.S. delegate to the six-party talks, was to arrive in Mongolia for a regional conference over the weekend. He is scheduled to stop in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo after the conference.