China Presses N. Korea on Pact

China was struggling to persuade its ally North Korea to agree to a statement meant to lay the foundation for the Pyongyang regime’s nuclear disarmament as negotiations entered their 10th day today.

The chief U.S. envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said Wednesday that Washington had done all it could.

“We’re confident the Chinese will work very hard to get the DPRK to sign on to the draft agreement,” Hill said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its formal name.

The U.S. envoy said he didn’t know how long the talks would last.

But Hill said North Korea had not agreed to “basic elements” of the statement proposed by China at the talks. He wouldn’t give details.

Negotiators have suggested this round of arms talks was nearing its end, but gave no sign they had agreed to anything.

Hill and the North Koreans were present late Wednesday at the guesthouse that is the main site of the talks, but they were in separate rooms and had no direct contact.

Hill said Chinese diplomats spoke to both groups but didn’t relay messages between them.

China didn’t ask the U.S. delegation to change its position on the statement, Hill said.

Earlier Wednesday, Hill said, “We have done everything we can do. We’ve talked to everyone we can talk to.”

He said the United States had “shown a certain amount of flexibility in dealing with this tough issue.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, speaking in Tokyo, said earlier Wednesday that the extent to which the North’s nuclear program should be dismantled and Pyongyang’s right to peaceful use of nuclear technology were matters of dispute. South Korea’s representative, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min Soon, said the text included a clause about normalizing Pyongyang’s relations with Washington and Tokyo -- a sticking point in previous rounds.

Hill said the North Koreans would “decide on their own” whether to agree to the draft.

“They’re not going to listen to pressure from me,” he said.

Negotiators have suggested this round of talks is nearing its end, but they have given no sign that they had agreed to anything.

Envoys from all sides have repeatedly expressed determination to make progress in this round of talks -- the fourth in a series that began in 2003, which have so far failed to make any breakthroughs on the standoff.