The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Geneva

North Korean and US negotiators failed to reach any breakthrough in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme and do not plan to resume negotiations Friday, the chief US negotiator said. "It was good consultations but we are not there yet," Christopher Hill told journalists late Thursday outside the US mission in Geneva after meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan. "We are going to report to our capitals," he said, adding there were no plans to continue the talks on Friday. Earlier in the day, Hill had hinted the talks might be extended, but by late evening he simply said: "We had a long day of discussions, (and) we are in a better position now than when we arrived." The two sides talked about a host of sensitive issues including uranium enrichment and humanitarian assistance, he added. North Korea last year signed a landmark deal to abandon all its nuclear weapons in exchange for badly needed energy and economic aid and major security and diplomatic benefits. But the process -- involving China, Japan, both Koreas, Russia and the United States -- has been stalled since the Stalinist state missed an end-2007 deadline to declare all its nuclear programmes and disable its plutonium plant.