China on Friday called for a proper resolution of issues involving allegedly illicit funds held by North Korea in a Macao bank.

"China has noticed the recent statement made by the US Treasury Department and that made by the Macao Special Administrative Region government, and we hope these are conducive to properly resolving relevant issues," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.

"We hope for and encourage constructive efforts by the parties to jointly promote the process of the six-party talks (on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue)," Qin said.

The United States said on April 6 that it supported the return of the allegedly illicit funds frozen in a Macao bank to North Korea.

"We support the release of all the funds. It is now a matter of technical implementation," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We believe that we have identified a way to do that."

The United States on March 19 agreed to transfer the US$25 million frozen in the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA) to a North Korean account at the Bank of China in Beijing.
 
North Korea, which agreed at the six-party talks in February to shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facility, insisted that unfreezing the funds was a prerequisite for starting other negotiations.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2007)