N. Korea Talks Still Deadlocked

Nuclear talks with North Korea are moving too slowly, but delegates have agreed to continue meeting this weekend, the chief U.S. envoy to the negotiations said.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Friday’s session had been “rather excruciating” and achieved little.

“We got some things done, but it’s not as much as I’d like and it’s not going to get us there in the time span that we think we ought to get there,” he told reporters.

Hill said that during a one-on-one meeting Friday, the North Koreans didn’t mention Europe’s offer to Iran of support for civilian nuclear power in exchange for renouncing atomic weapons.

So far, the six-nation talks have produced no breakthrough in efforts to create a statement of principles that would form the basis for negotiations to persuade the North to disarm.

Hill said he would meet today with Chinese and North Korean diplomats in hopes of finding a way to speed up the process.

Diplomats say the talks are deadlocked over the North’s insistence on retaining a peaceful nuclear program and the question of what it would receive in exchange for disarming.

The talks also involve South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.