NK Pledges to Denuclearize

North Korea Monday reconfirmed its pledge to denuclearize under a February deal, saying its funds held at a Macau bank have been transferred to its account to clear away the major obstacle to the implementation of the nuclear disarmament deal.

The funds will be used for humanitarian purposes as promised, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry also said in an interview carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The spokesman confirmed that the North will soon get on with implementing the six-nation agreement signed on Feb. 13 in which the communist nation promised to shut down and seal its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

"As part of efforts to that end, (North Korea) is set to start negotiations on the shutdown of the nuclear facility and its verification with a working-level delegation of the IAEA in

Pyongyang from June 26," Yonhap news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

The spokesman confirmed the transfer of the funds to North Korea.

"As the money frozen in Banco Delta Asia ( BDA) has been transferred as we demanded, the controversial issue has been resolved," the spokesman said.

"The released money is planned to be used to improve the livelihood of the people and other humanitarian purposes as agreed" between the North and the United States, the unidentified spokesman added.

North Korea's $25 million in the Banco Delta Asia had been frozen since late 2005, when the U.S. blacklisted the bank as a "primary money laundering concern" for its link to the North's illicit financial activities that included counterfeiting U.S. dollars and money laundering.