Envoys failed to agree on how to verify North Korea’s past atomic activities in the latest round of talks on the country’s nuclear programme, all but extinguishing hopes of a successful legacy on the issue by the outgoing US administration.

INTERNATIONAL talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme stalled yesterday, envoys said, after the communist regime snubbed a Chinese proposal outlining how monitors could verify its past atomic activities.

A man who attacked his neighbour with a hatchet because the music at a confirmation celebration party was too loud has had his prison sentence reduced by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

North Korea has agreed to all US nuclear inspection demands and the Bush administration responded today by removing the communist country from a terrorism blacklist.

A SENIOR US envoy extended talks in North Korea in a bid to save a troubled disarmament pact and convince secretive Pyongyang not to restart a nuclear plant that makes arms-grade plutonium.

North Korea said today it has agreed with the US to continue working to resolve a stalemate in international negotiations over its promise to fully declare its nuclear weapons programs.

A former heroin addict who attacked his neighbour with a hatchet because the music at his daughter’s confirmation celebration party was too loud has been given a four year sentence.

NORTH KOREA last night said it gave a list of its nuclear programmes to the US in November, claiming it tried to meet commitments under an international disarmament agreement and accusing the US of not doing its part to deliver aid.

The top US envoy on North Korea made a rare visit to the communist country today to inspect work to disable its nuclear complex so that Pyongyang will no longer be able to produce atomic bombs.

A former psychiatric patient today pleaded not guilty to stalking US actress Uma Thurman for nearly two years.

A team of experts will begin disabling North Korea’s nuclear facilities on Monday, the US envoy said today, marking the Communist country’s biggest step yet to scale back its atomic programme.

The US is working with North Korea to remove it from Washington’s blacklist of states sponsoring terrorism as American experts prepare to start disabling the Communist nation’s nuclear reactor, a top US diplomat said today.

A former psychiatric patient who sent letters to Uma Thurman and threatened to kill himself if he saw the US actress with another man was yesterday indicted on stalking charges.

The US State Department today said that the next round of six-nation North Korean nuclear talks could start on September 27.

NORTH KOREA yesterday agreed to account for and disable all its nuclear programmes by the end of the year, the chief US negotiator said — the first time the communist country has offered a timeline to end its secretive atomic programme.

Arms talks with North Korea failed to yield an agreement on a deadline for disabling its nuclear facilities, the US said today, dashing hopes for another disarmament breakthrough after the shutdown of Pyongyang’s sole reactor.

NORTH Korea yesterday confirmed it had shut down its Yongbyon atomic reactor under UN supervision, the first step in a process designed to rid the communist state of nuclear weapons.

North Korea has told the United States it has shut down its nuclear reactor, the US State Department said today, hours after a ship cruised into port loaded with oil promised in return for the country’s pledge to disarm.

EFFORTS to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme moved ahead yesterday, with the chief US envoy saying he wants the North’s reactor completely disabled by year’s end and UN inspectors heading to Pyongyang to supervise the shutdown.

North Korea vowed today to move forward with its pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid.

North Korea’s plutonium-producing reactor could be shut down in three weeks’ time in a deal agreed with the US, a top nuclear envoy said today.

US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill ended a surprise trip to North Korea today, amid optimism that the visit heralded renewed progress in international efforts to denuclearise the communist country.

A top US nuclear envoy headed today to North Korea in a surprise trip ahead of the expected resumption of international talks on halting the communist nation’s nuclear weapons programme, US and Japanese officials said.

The main US nuclear envoy said in South Korea today that Washington believes a financial dispute that has prevented North Korea’s disarmament is now resolved.

Time is running out for North Korea to take initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear programme, a US envoy warned today.

North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator told US envoys today that his government would immediately invite UN nuclear inspectors into the country if £12.7m (€18.6m) in disputed funds were released.

Envoys met in China today to hammer out a detailed schedule for dismantling North Korea’s nuclear programmes amid efforts to resolve a sticking point over North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank.

North Korea will not stop its nuclear activity unless its funds held in a Macau bank are fully released, the country’s chief nuclear envoy said today.

China said tonight that progress had been made at the North Korea nuclear talks, and a South Korean official said all six countries had reached an unspecified agreement.

Envoys to international talks seeking to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program raised objections today to a Chinese draft proposal on initial steps for disarming Pyongyang, the main US delegate said, an indication of obstacles to an imminent breakthrough.

North Korea expressed its readiness today to discuss initial steps of its nuclear disarmament, raising hopes for the first tangible progress at talks on Pyongyang’s atomic weapons programme in more than three years.

NORTH Korea’s top nuclear envoy has told former US officials that Pyongyang wants more than half a million tonnes of fuel oil a year in return for suspending its atomic reactor, a Japanese daily said yesterday.

The US State Department indicated today that the next round of six-party Korean nuclear disarmament talks will begin in about the second week in February in China.

North Korea said it reached an unspecified agreement with the US this week on its nuclear weapons programme, and America’s top nuclear envoy expressed optimism Friday that progress could be made when wider arms talks reconvene.

North Korea said today it had reached an agreement with the US during talks with Washington’s main nuclear envoy this week in Germany.

The US and North Korea are focusing on ways to resume international nuclear disarmament talks in their discussions in Germany, not on US financial restrictions levelled at Pyongyang, the state department said today.

The first talks on North Korea's nuclear programme since the communist nation tested an atomic device ended without an agreement on disarmament or a date for further negotiations.

THE United States and North Korea held their first face-to-face meeting yesterday at the six-nation nuclear arms talks, and also met separately to discuss US financial restrictions on the communist regime that have been a key snag to the arms negotiations.

Trade ministers tried to keep the Pacific Rim summit focused on its economic agenda today as sideline discussions on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme threatened to steal the show in Vietnam.

Talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program will be at a crossroads when they resume after a year's break, South Korea's top negotiator on the issue said today.

North Korea said today it would return to nuclear disarmament talks to try to resolve a US campaign aimed at choking the communist nation’s access to foreign banks.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has told a Chinese envoy his country has no immediate plans to conduct another nuclear test but that US policy towards Pyongyang will determine the future, a report says.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice today arrived in South Korea to press Seoul to support sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test that rattled the world.

US officials have found traces of radioactive air which may confirm that North Korea did carry out a nuclear test as it claimed on Monday.