N. Korea nuclear talks snag on aid for Pyongyang

Talks to end North Korea's nuclear programme fell short of an accord yesterday, snagging on disputes over how and when to compensate Pyongyang for disarming, but envoys said the gulf between the parties was narrowing.

Envoys from the North and South Korea, the United States, Russia, Japan and host China focused on the energy and aid incentives Pyongyang would receive in exchange for jettisoning its programme.

But they have not yet bridged the gap and the negotiations, on again and off again for more than three years without a resolution, stretch into a fourth day today.

"Issues have been narrowed, but we can't see any solution to several issues," Japan's chief negotiator Kenichiro Sasae said. "North Korea and the five countries are considerably far apart."

A diplomatic source close to the talks said: "With respect to energy and economic aid for North Korea, a huge gap remains between North Korea and the five countries in terms of figures and volume."

US envoy Christopher Hill said the dispute centred on one paragraph in a draft joint statement but would not specify the problem. "It is definitely an issue that has prevented us from sealing the deal," he told reporters.

Hill said North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plant, at which operations would be suspended within about two months in exchange for energy and economic aid under a draft deal, was not at issue. One issue that had been put off for future discussion was North Korea's demand to its right to civilian nuclear power.

Still, Hill added that they hoped to reach agreement on the joint statement and it was worth staying in China and trying to clinch a deal, which he said could take another day or two. Impoverished North Korea is under pressure to accept a deal, not least from China, its communist neighbour and backer that is angered by Pyongyang's nuclear brinkmanship.

South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo declared earlier that the weekend could bring about a "watershed" in the talks. But he later said the parties' interests were not meshing easily, though the North had a firm position on how it would denuclearise. Japan's Kyodo news agency said North Korea had demanded energy aid equivalent to more than two million tonnes of fuel oil annually in exchange for taking initial steps toward abandoning its nuclear programmes.

The New York Times said officials at the White House and the State Department were preparing for a major announcement this weekend, and described it as different from the nuclear freeze that the Clinton administration negotiated in 1994.