NKorea nuclear talks end without breakthrough, no new meeting scheduled

BEIJING (AP) - The first talks on North Korea's nuclear program since the communist country tested an atomic device ended Friday without an agreement to move ahead on disarmament or schedule further negotiations. The delegates reaffirmed a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to disarm in exchange for security guarantees and aid, Chinese envoy Wu Dawei said in a statement.

Wu said the parties had "useful discussions" about how to implement the agreement in "candid and in-depth exchanges of views," but he did not provide details.

The countries - China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas - agreed to return home and "reconvene at the earliest opportunity," Wu said.

During five days of meetings in Beijing, negotiators said Pyongyang refused to talk about its nuclear weapons program, and instead stuck to its demand that the United States remove financial restrictions it has imposed on the regime.

Earlier, Japan's top envoy questioned whether the disarmament talks would continue after this round if no breakthrough was achieved. In more than three years of meetings, the North has only committed in principle to disarm but has taken no concrete steps to do so, instead conducting its first nuclear test on Oct. 9. Until this week, the North had boycotted the talks for 13 months.

"There will be opinions questioning the credibility of the six-party talks," Kenichiro Sasae said, without elaborating. He did not say what the alternative to the multinational dialogue might be.

Ahead of Friday's meetings, the U.S. envoy accused North Korea of not addressing the actual issue of its atomic programs.

"When the (North) raises problems, one day it's financial issues, another day it's something they want but they know they can't have, another day it's something we said about them that hurt their feelings," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said. "What they need to do is to get serious about the issue that made them such a problem ... their nuclear activities."

Pyongyang says the United States is waging a campaign to isolate North Korea from the international financial system and has insisted that it end. The United States accuses North Korea of involvement in counterfeiting US$100 bills and of money laundering, and has blacklisted a Macau bank that it alleges the North used to launder money to fund its weapons program.

Negotiators say North Koreans have refused to even talk about their nuclear weapons program until the financial restrictions are dropped.

American and North Korean experts had separate talks on the issue this week in Beijing, but made no breakthroughs and were tentatively set to meet in the United States next month.

© The Canadian Press, 2006