N. Korean envoy: No progress at nuke talks
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-02 20:40

"There are five parties that are in pretty close agreement on those principles and the key question is whether North Korea is willing to make the strategic decision it needs to make to go forward," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said in Beijing, where he was on a visit separate from the nuclear talks.

As a result of the latest meeting, China proposed a new draft "that reflects a balance" of what was discussed, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said Tuesday evening. He said meetings would continue Wednesday on the proposal.

Delegates at the talks expressed frustration over the lack of progress earlier Tuesday before heading into the first meeting of all head delegates since Saturday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters in Tokyo that the talks would "take more time."

"I can't say discussions on the wording of the agreement are going smoothly," Machimura said. "North Korea continues to deny that it has a uranium enrichment program."

U.S. officials said in late 2002 that the North admitted to violating a 1994 deal by embarking on a secret uranium enrichment program, sparking the latest nuclear standoff.

"I don't know where we go with this," the chief U.S. delegate, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said before Tuesday's meetings.

His South Korean counterpart, Song, added: "In the current situation, we are almost running out of wisdom."

Unlike previous negotiations where the sides failed to agree on a joint statement, delegates this time have set no deadline for the talks and appeared determined to work out a declaration.

No details of any drafts have been released, but reports have said it would mention energy aid and a security guarantee for Pyongyang and eventually normalized political relations with Washington.

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