N Korea nuclear talks extended

North Korean disarmament talks were extended until at least tomorrow as envoys struggled to reach an agreement over a Chinese proposal that would let Pyongyang keep its civilian nuclear power programme after it disarms.

After the heads of all six delegations met twice this morning in Beijing to exchange opinions on the document, host China said the negotiations were almost finished.

“The talks are drawing to an end,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. It gave no explanation, but said delegates would meet again tomorrow.

It was not immediately clear if tomorrow would be the last day of this round of talks, and officials were not immediately available for comment.

State-run China Central Television’s CCTV 9 network reported that the US and North Korea remained at odds.

“We’ll see where we are at the end of the day,” US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said earlier today as he left his hotel. Hill said he would stay in Beijing another day.

Several countries among the six participating in the talks indicated they were dissatisfied with the compromise proposed by China, Hill said last night after a day of discussions.

“We’re all very supportive of the document, the issue is tactics of how we express elements in the document,” Hill said today. “Some delegations prefer to leave some things more ambiguous, my delegation would like to see things less ambiguous.”

Envoys said they wanted to keep talking until they reach an agreement.

“Since we do not have a set date, we will continue negotiations to coordinate each party’s interests with the draft that has been proposed,” Song Min-soon, South Korea’s deputy foreign minister, said as he left his hotel.

The talks in Beijing involve China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas.

The North has been offered economic aid, security guarantees from Washington and free electricity from South Korea in exchange for dismantling its weapons programme.

Pyongyang has demanded it be given a nuclear reactor for generating electricity before disarming, promising to open such a facility to co-management and international inspections.

The new Chinese draft affirms Pyongyang’s right to peaceful nuclear activities after it ends its weapons programme. Washington has insisted the North cannot be trusted with any nuclear programme, given its history of pursuing atomic bombs.

North Korea has not directly commented on the proposal, but on Friday, after it was put forward, a spokesman for Pyongyang denounced efforts to get it to give up its nuclear programme without concessions by the US and called such demands “brigandish”.

“Clearly, they have some problems with the draft but we have some problems as well,” Hill said of North Korea’s stance.

Hill said he was making frequent calls to Washington, and had consulted with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Who was planning to contact foreign ministers of nations involved in the talks.

He praised the Chinese for trying to bridge the differences between the six countries, but said Washington could not accept a vague statement of principles that would leave tough issues for later.

“We cannot create ambiguities at this stage that would cause confusion in the future,” he said. “We’re not going to get there by papering over these differences and kicking the can down the road.”

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, who hosted a banquet for the chief delegates last night, urged the envoys to end the “cold war state” on the Korean Peninsula and accept what he described as the “most realistic scenario for the relevant parties to reach an accord,” Xinhua reported.

In the North’s only public comments at the talks, spokesman Hyun Hak Bong on Friday reiterated Pyongyang’s insistence that it needs nuclear weapons for its own defence – against what it says is a threat from the United States.