Envoys to North Korea nuclear talks struggle to compromise over Chinese draft proposal

(AP) Envoys to international talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program struggled Friday to find a compromise as differences emerged over a Chinese proposal on how to begin the disarmament process.

Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's top negotiator said he felt there was no prospect of an agreement late Friday on the draft on how to implement a 2005 agreement that calls for Pyongyang to disarm in exchange for security guarantees and aid.

"There are some parts in which we had progress but on others we ran into difficulty," Sasae told reporters after daylong meetings with the other delegates.

"We will continue with the talks, but at this point in time I don't feel there is a prospect of reaching an agreement," he said without elaborating.

The chief American negotiator, however, expressed some hope but added that disputes remained over finer points.

"The fundamental issues, we're OK on," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill. "I'm still cautiously optimistic."

Hill said that the remaining issues to be resolved were contained in a single paragraph of the Chinese draft and that they were working on rewriting it to address North Korea's concerns. He did not give any details.

Earlier Friday, Hill and his North Korean counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, met for two hours, with Kim saying the meeting led to agreement on some unspecified issues, although there were still issues to overcome. "We are going to make more efforts to resolve them," Kim said.

Group and bilateral talks on Friday centered on a draft agreement China distributed to the nuclear envoys from Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.

The proposal _ presented after North Korea agreed in principle to take initial steps to disarm _ would grant the communist nation unspecified energy aid for shutting down its main nuclear facilities within two months, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Officials declined to confirm details of the draft.

A pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan said the North wants the U.S. first to show that it has permanently ceased its "hostile" policy toward Pyongyang.

"As conditions mature, (North Korea) can halt the operation of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities," the Choson Sinbo said, referring to the site of the North's main nuclear complex north of Pyongyang.

"The (North)'s position is that it can take corresponding measures when the U.S. takes steps to show that it irreversibly gave up its hostile policy," it said.

The report, carried on the paper's Web site, cited a "diplomatic source well versed in" the negotiations. The paper, with links to the government in Pyongyang, is considered one of the North's propaganda tools.

Any agreement on an initial set of reciprocal moves to implement a September 2005 accord _ in which North Korea pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees _ would set the stage for the first tangible steps in the often-delayed six-nation process.

The 2005 deal, a broad statement of principles that did not outline any concrete steps for dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, was the only agreement since the negotiations began in 2003.

At the last session of the arms negotiations in December, following North Korea's Oct. 9 underground nuclear test, the North refused to even talk about its nuclear programs. Instead, it demanded the U.S. lift financial restrictions targeting alleged North Korean counterfeiting and money laundering.

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Associated Press reporters Hiroko Tabuchi and Burt Herman contributed to this report.