The participants in the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should show patience, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

"All the participants in the talks should show patience, restraint and consistency for securing the nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.

"The United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) were able to make reciprocal concessions that could unblock the resumption of the six-party talks. In this case too, prudence should be shown and the six-party talks should not be made a hostage to the bilateral problems existing between Washington and Pyongyang," Lavrov said.

Top Chinese envoy to the six-party talks Wu Dawei said in Beijing Thursday that the sixth round of talks had recessed and would restart soon.

The latest six-party talks were aimed at discussing specific steps in the initial phase of the Feb. 13 deal, in which the DPRK agreed to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility in return for energy aid.

The DPRK insisted that resolving the BDA (Banco Delta Asia) frozen fund issue is a prerequisite for starting other negotiations.

The United States on March 19 agreed to transfer the DPRK's 25 million U.S. dollars frozen at Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA) to a DPRK account at the Bank of China (BOC) in Beijing.

However, the BOC refused to accept the transfer of frozen funds, according to chief Russian negotiator Alexander Losyukov.

Wu said that the transfer of the DPRK's funds is an unexpected problem, and all sides are striving to find a solution.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the delay is "not an issue of American unwillingness," but "a technical issue."

He said the Bush administration hopes that the problem will not slow down the six-party talks.

Source: Xinhua