North Korea nuclear talks straggle into seventh day

BEIJING - Weary delegates to Korean nuclear crisis talks make fresh efforts on Monday to agree on a joint statement after weekend discussions left tempers frayed and the six parties no closer to a resolution.

The Beijing talks have been marked by unprecedented contact between Washington and Pyongyang, the main protagonists in a crisis now nearly three years old, creating a more positive atmosphere than at three previous inconclusive rounds.

But as the open-ended talks stretched into a seventh day, consensus even on basic principles still seemed elusive.

A Japanese delegate called the talks "frank and constructive" but also said they were marked by "fierce exchanges".

US chief negotiator Christopher Hill said the process was "lengthy and difficult".

The crux of the disagreement centres on timing, and whether North Korea should dismantle its nuclear facilities as a precondition to aid and security guarantees, as the United States wants, or whether the assurances should come first.

South Korean envoy Song Min-soon said the six parties -- the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China -- had so far agreed after lengthy weekend discussions only to set up a framework for eventual de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Deputies were consigned on Monday to another day of trying to reach agreement on a draft document, initially presented by China, which would mark a talks breakthrough. Past progress was measured by whether delegates could even agree to reconvene.

Also on Monday, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick was due to take part in the first China-US strategic dialogue in Beijing.

Xinhua news agency said Zoellick met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday and discussed bilateral ties "and international issues of common concern".

China's draft calls on Pyongyang to abandon its "nuclear weapons programmes and related programmes" in return for the other five providing security, economic aid and improved ties, a diplomatic source close to the talks told Reuters.

It did not address who should move first or if the parties should move simultaneously, avoiding the crucial issue of timing.

Washington also demands verifiable destruction of North Korea's weapons programmes, which intelligence sources say have produced enough material for up to nine nuclear bombs, before it will provide security guarantees and aid for the poor, diplomatically isolated country.

The crisis erupted in 2002, when the United States accused North Korea of pursuing a covert weapons programme. The North responded by expelling UN nuclear inspectors.

The stakes rose in February, when Pyongyang announced it had nuclear weapons and demanded aid, assurances and diplomatic recognition from Washington in return for scrapping them.

Despite the lack of progress at the talks, the frequent one-on-one meetings on the sidelines between North Korean and American negotiators were a positive step and marked a change in policy from previous rounds that featured only brief exchanges.

At past rounds of talks North Korea's delegation called news conferences to denounce the United States. This time its foreign minister announced that Pyongyang would be willing to rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the standoff were resolved.

But he listed several conditions for the resolution, including removing US nuclear weapons from South Korea -- weapons Washington says it no longer keeps there.

- REUTERS