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Push for progress on North Korea US stands firm at N Korea talks
(about 13 hours later)
Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme are due to end on Friday with few signs of breakthrough. A fifth day of talks is due to start in Beijing aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear programme.
Chief US negotiator Christopher Hill said he remained hopeful that some progress would be made but warned "this is not an easy phase". But chief US negotiator Christopher Hill said it would be the final day of this round of talks and that he would leave for the US on Saturday.
The main stumbling block is Pyongyang's insistence that the US lifts a year-long freeze on its bank accounts. America says North Korea is still demanding the lifting of US financial restrictions against it, while refusing to focus on its nuclear programme.
The issue was discussed by treasury officials from both sides at the meeting in Beijing this week. The six-party talks resumed on Monday after a 13 month break.
Those talks have now finished, but may resume in the new year. North Korea agreed to return to the negotiating table two months after it carried out its first nuclear test on 9 October.
Mr Hill was meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan for bilateral talks again on Thursday.
He is trying to persuade North Korea to implement a deal made in September 2005, in which Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear facilities in return for aid and security guarantees.
Diplomats say the US has offered North Korea a further package of incentives - including a written guarantee not to attack - if it agrees to halt its nuclear work and allow verification by UN inspectors.
"We do believe that there are some elements of that September agreement that should begin to get implemented even this week," Mr Hill told reporters on the fourth day of the talks in Beijing.
"This is not an easy phase, and I don't want to predict that we're going to succeed."
BlacklistedBlacklisted
He admitted Pyongyang's insistence that US financial sanctions be lifted was a block to progress. "I wish I could say I was more optimistic but I am not more optimistic," Mr Hill told reporters after the talks on Thursday.
N KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAMME Believed to have 'handful' of nuclear weaponsBut not thought to have any small enough to put in a missileCould try dropping from plane, though world watching closely Low hopes for talks Text of September 2005 deal Talks absorb regional pressN KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAMME Believed to have 'handful' of nuclear weaponsBut not thought to have any small enough to put in a missileCould try dropping from plane, though world watching closely Low hopes for talks Text of September 2005 deal Talks absorb regional press
"It is difficult to engage [them] on the other subjects when they have come in with a very strong view on the financial issue... This is a challenge that we face," he said. "I am not here to talk about financial issues," he added, referring to Pyongyang's insistence that the US lifts a year-long freeze on its bank accounts.
One South Korean official told Reuters news agency: "Everything is now up to the North Koreans.
"I don't see any chance the Americans are going to change their position," he added.
In Tokyo, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso said "extreme differences" remained between the North and the other five parties, Kyodo news agency reports.
The six-party talks - which also involve China, South Korea, Japan and Russia - stalled 13 months ago when Pyongyang walked out in protest at the US restrictions.
Washington had blacklisted a Macau-based bank containing $24m of North Korean money, accusing Pyongyang of engaging in money-laundering and counterfeiting activities.Washington had blacklisted a Macau-based bank containing $24m of North Korean money, accusing Pyongyang of engaging in money-laundering and counterfeiting activities.
North Korea agreed to return to the negotiating table after it carried out its first nuclear test on 9 October - but has made the lifting of the financial sanctions a key condition to disarmament. North Korea has made the lifting of financial sanctions a key condition to disarmament.
The North has said little officially about this week's negotiations. However, Mr Hill is trying to persuade North Korea to implement a deal made in September 2005, in which Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear facilities in return for aid and security guarantees.
But a pro-North Korean newspaper quoted diplomatic sources as saying it did not see US security and aid offers as "real proof of the US withdrawing its hostile policy". Diplomats say the US has offered North Korea a further package of incentives - including a written guarantee not to attack - if it agrees to halt its nuclear work and allow verification by UN inspectors.
'Two lanes'
In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the financial issues should be kept separate from the nuclear talks.
"We should not be diverted, somehow, by an issue that is clearly in another lane," she told a news conference.
She also added that the North Koreans themselves had asked that the financial issues be dealt with by a separate working group.
"We cannot be diverted from what we need to do in the six-party talks, which is to have the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," she continued.
The six-party talks - which also involve China, South Korea, Japan and Russia - stalled 13 months ago when Pyongyang walked out in protest at the US restrictions.