Talks on North Korea's nuclear program ground to a halt in Beijing on Thursday, with the North Korean and Russian envoys both leaving for the airport after four days of negotiations went nowhere, Reuters reports.
North Korea had avoided discussing a February deal to shut its main nuclear reactor by mid-April since the talks began on Monday, demanding that $25 million frozen in a Macau bank first be transferred to a bank in Beijing.
North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan did not talk to reporters at the airport 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."
The exasperated U.S. envoy, Christopher Hill, had said the delay in the transfer from Macau's Banco Delta Asia to a North Korean account at the Bank of China needed had to be overcome quickly.
"The day I'm able to explain to you North Korean thinking is probably the day I've been in this process too long," he told reporters as he left for talks with China's envoy, Wu Dawei.
China, putting a brave face on the departures, said some meetings were still taking place at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse, with North Korean delegates included.
"The most recent information is that the six parties are continuing to meet, holding bilaterals," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.
(Reuters, 22/03/2007)