The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday invited a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss the shutdown of its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon under the Feb. 13 agreement, the official news agency reported.

A working-level delegation of the IAEA will be invited to the DPRK to talk about "the procedures of the IAEA's verification and monitoring of the suspension of the operations of nuclear facilities at Yongbyon under the Feb. 13 agreement," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The DPRK made the invitation in a letter from Ri Je-son, the DPRK's director general of the General Department of Atomic Energy to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, the report said.

"...It (DPRK) is confirmed that the process of de-freezing the funds of the DPRK at the Banco Delta Asia in Macao has reached its final phase," according to the report.

It reported that the DPRK's frozen fund in the Macao bank had been transferred to an account in a Russian bank in the Far East.

It was the DPRK's first official confirmation of the de-freezing fund process which started on Thursday.

According to the agreement reached on Feb.13 at the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, the DPRK was supposed to shut down and seal the Yongbyon facilities within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid.

The DPRK has insisted that its US$25 million frozen at the bank be returned before the nuclear reactor and new negotiations are started.