TOKYO, April 10 (Reuters) - Macau's monetary authority said on Tuesday that it was releasing funds in frozen North Korean accounts at a Macau bank, effective immediately, Kyodo news reported.

A spokeswoman for the Monetary Authority of Macau (MAM) said account holders of the funds could now go to Banco Delta Asia and withdraw or transfer them, Kyodo said.

"The account holders or authorised parties can go to the bank and withdraw or deal with their deposits," the Japanese news agency quoted MAM spokeswoman Wendy Au as saying, referring to the North Korea-linked funds. The arrangement takes "immediate effect," Au said after the bank closed on Tuesday.

Under an international deal agreed two months ago to end its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea has until Saturday to start shutting down its Yongbyon atomic plant.

The reclusive state has insisted it will only close the reactor, which supplies it with weapons-grade plutonium, once $25 million in funds linked to North Korean interests and frozen since 2005 in Macau's Banco Delta Asia are freed.

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