N. Korea reminded to fulfill its pledge

SEOUL —  The U.S. said Sunday that North Korea must act within days on a pledge to halt its nuclear weapons program, after the Pyongyang government failed to meet a Saturday deadline to shut down and seal a nuclear reactor.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Washington was prepared “to hold on for a few more days” after his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, asked the U.S. for patience.

“We’re not happy that the [North] essentially has missed this very important deadline,” Hill told reporters after talks with Wu in Beijing. “We’re obviously going to be watching the situation very closely in the coming days.”

The United States sent a message to North Korea through its embassy in China urging it to fulfill commitments of a February agreement that would give the Pyongyang regime energy aid and political concessions in return for disarming.

The North said last week it would proceed only when it received money from accounts frozen in 2005 after the U.S. blacklisted a Macao bank suspected of money laundering and other illicit activities. The $25 million was freed last week, but it remains unclear when the North will receive the money.

Hill said he expected the countries involved in the talks -- China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and North and South Korea -- would meet before month’s end to discuss the next steps.

No official comment has come from the North, which was preoccupied Sunday with celebrations of the birthday of late founder Kim Il Sung.