Although Christopher Hill thought the matter was settled, “I think they [the North Koreans] recognize that this indeed means the matter is resolved,” he’d said, North Korea has refused to deal further until it actually receives its fund from the Macau bank:

Talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear program reached stalemate on Wednesday over the delayed transfer of funds frozen in a Macau bank, prompting frustrated delegates to warn that a chance to press forward was being lost.

[…]

But impoverished North Korea has insisted it must first see $25 million freed from Macau’s Banco Delta Asia (BDA). . . The money is to be transferred to a North Korean account at the Bank of China.

“As far as I know, the Bank of China refuses to accept the transfer of the frozen funds” from BDA, Xinhua’s news agency quoted Russian envoy Alexander Losyukov as saying.

A diplomatic source said: “China, in fact, does not want to play a role in getting the ‘dirty money’ back to North Korea. The Americans are smart enough to toss the ball in the Chinese court over the questionable funds.”

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill told reporters there had been a “real opportunity cost” to the delay. (emphasis added)

After reading this and skimming headlines (negative in regard to North Korea), it is clear that this is very good news. Not for the actual progress of the talks, which are in my opinion merely an exercise in diplomacy, but in perception management. The U.S. has finally begun to play the same game as North Korea, in this case making North Korea look like the troublemaker it is, but due to Chinese, not U.S., inaction (and leaving China to worry about UNSC Resolution 1718).

This is very important, for when the talks fail due to North Korea’s reneging on one point or another, political capital in the U.S. will be gained or lost on such perceptions.