A Japanese daily says preparations to transfer North Korea’s 25 million dollars from a Macao bank over to a Russian financial institution will be concluded on Thursday.

The Sankei Shimbun quoted a Japanese government official as saying that the North Korean funds at Banco Delta Asia will be first transferred to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then passed on to Russia’s central bank. Next, they will go to a private Russian bank, the Far East Commercial Bank, for deposit into an account held by Pyongyang.

The report was quick to add, however, that it is unclear when the transaction will be completed or how long it will take.

The paper also noted that even after the transfer is concluded, the North is likely to make more demands, including readmission into the international financial network before it returns to the six-way nuclear talks.