Talks on North Korea's nuclear programme ended abruptly with no progress yesterday after four days of negotiations derailed by the issue of funds frozen in a Macau bank.

Throughout the session, which began on Monday, North Korea avoided discussing a February deal to shut its main nuclear reactor by mid-April, demanding that $25 million at Macau's Banco Delta Asia first be transferred to a bank in Beijing.

North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan left for home suddenly without talking to reporters, but a North Korean government source in Beijing said: "Our delegation went home because there was no progress on the promised transfer of the funds."

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