By DPA
Vienna/Seoul : North Korea has invited International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors for talks on the dismantling of its controversial nuclear programme, the IAEA confirmed Sunday.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency had reported Saturday that an invitation to the IAEA working group had been issued, as the release of money from previously frozen North Korean accounts at a Macau-based bank had entered the "final phase."
More than US$20 million reportedly reached the New York branch of the United States Federal Reserve Friday from the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia. The money is to be deposited in North Korean accounts at a Russian commercial bank.
The US froze the money after linking it to money laundering, counterfeiting and drug trafficking.
The transfer of the frozen assets would remove a hurdle to the implementation of a six-nation February agreement in which Pyongyang agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor.
Part of the agreement was the invitation to the IAEA with which North Korea broke off cooperation in 2002.