Nuclear talks deadlocked

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.

The deadlock means that the North Korea nuclear issue will be one of the many challenges facing president-elect Barack Obama when he takes office in January.

“We had some very ambitious plans for this round. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete some of the things we wanted to do,” Christopher Hill, the chief US negotiator, told reporters before leaving Beijing. The current round of six-nation talks was marked by frustration over North Korea’s refusal to put into writing any commitments on inspection.