Stuart Levey, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will make public the final regulation concerning the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, which was hit with UN sanctions in 2005 for allegedly acting as a clearing house for illicit North Korean financial dealings.

The Treasury scheduled a press conference for 1:00 pm (1700 GMT) to make the announcement, meeting a deadline agreed between Washington and Pyongyang for resolution of the dispute as part of a February 13 nuclear disarmament accord.

The United States slapped sanctions on Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in September 2005, accusing the bank of helping North Korea circulate counterfeit 100 US dollar bills and of laundering funds from narcotics and weapons trafficking.

The sanctions resulted in BDA's collapse and a freeze being placed on 24 million dollars of North Korean funds which in turn led to a North Korean walkout from six-nation negotiations aimed at ending the country's nuclear weapons program.

A US willingness to resolve the banking dispute played a key role in enticing North Korea back to the negotiations late last year, resulting in the February 13 agreement under which it pledged to dismantle its nuclear arms program in exchange for aid and a normalization of relations with the US.

A first round of bilateral normalization talks took place in New York last week and the full six-nation negotiations involving China, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea and the United States are due to resume on March 19.

According to US media reports, Wednesday's Treasury announcement is expected to bar US banks from having any dealings with Banco Delta Asia, a formality which will clear the way for North Korea to recover at least some of the frozen funds.

It is not clear how much of the money will be released.

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