"At the present the transfer of the DPRK money from Macau to a Russian commercial bank has been completed. We hope that now the participants of the six-sided process will be able to switch to practical moves directed at realization of the (February) Beijing agreement," the ministry said in a statement.

The United States froze the US$25 million at a Macau bank after blacklisting the bank for allegedly aiding DPRK in money laundering and counterfeiting. The money was freed earlier this year with US blessing, but its transfer to the Russian bank began only about a week ago.

Restoring access to the funds has been DPRK's key condition for taking steps to fulfill a nuclear disarmament pledge.

The Foreign Ministry said it had agreed to a Russian bank's being a conduit for the DPRK funds after receiving guarantees from the United States that the transfer "would not bring negative consequences either for Russia or for the private bank." The funds were transferred to Russia by way of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the ministry said.

In Tokyo, meanwhile, the top US nuclear envoy, returning from a rare visit to DPRK, said Pyongyang could shut down its plutonium-producing reactor within three weeks.

Christopher Hill also told reporters that the next round of nuclear negotiations could begin in early July, before a full shutdown of the Yongbyon reactor.