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No progress in N Korea talks
21/12/2006 18:31 - (SA)
Beijing - The US lead negotiator said on
Thursday no progress had been made at talks to convince North
Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme, dimming
prospects of a breakthrough before Christmas.
"We hoping to make more progress than we made," assistant
secretary of state Christopher Hill told reporters after North
and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China
held four days of negotiations in Beijing.
A South Korean official said earlier the North would not
budge without a US climb-down on accounts frozen at a Macau
bank that Washington says was a "willing pawn" through which
Pyongyang engaged in counterfeiting and money-laundering.
"The North Koreans had a great deal of difficulty talking
about anything but (the bank)," Hill said.
"We understand the DPRK delegation has an interest" in that
issue, Hill said, referring to North Korea's official name. "We
prefer that they had an even greater interest in
denuclearisation."
- Reuters
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