The Bush administration said the solution applied to legal and technical problems that prevented the return of $25 million frozen during the investigation of a Macao bank.

The last step the North Koreans were awaiting was an official notification from the Macao bank that the money was available, he said.

The North Korean officials "mentioned that they are waiting for the lifting of sanctions with regard to the Macao bank," Dr. ElBaradei said.

Since the Treasury Department ordered American banks to cut off relations with the Macao bank, Banco Delta Asia, on Sept. 15, the administration has repeatedly insisted that the law enforcement action was unrelated to the nuclear negotiations.

American officials told the North Koreans that the United States had strong evidence that among the cash laundered through the Macao bank was a large amount of counterfeit American currency printed by the North Korean government.

But in fact the news report about the Macao bank, Banco Delta Asia, was the second disclosure in a week about the administration's waiving its tough approach to North Korea.

On June 11, 2007 Russia agreed to transfer the unfrozen North Korean funds from the Macao bank and transfer them to North Korea.

They cited a ruling by the Treasury Department in March that barred American banks from facilitating dollar transactions with the Macao bank.

For the past year, North Korea had refused to resume negotiations on its nuclear program until the United States lifted financial penalties imposed on a Macao bank last year that have hobbled the country's international financial transactions.

North Korea reiterated that it would allow international nuclear inspectors into the country as soon as it could confirm that funds frozen in a Macao bank had been released.