But North Korea "has taken the position that they will not shut down until there is an implementation plan. That is, a fully elaborated plan on when they will actually abandon their nuclear programs," the U.S. envoy, Christopher Hill, said Thursday.
Delegates say this week's discussions were to focus on working out the contentious details of the September agreement.
But the North refuses to disarm completely without getting concessions along the way. In particular, North Korea has demanded a civilian nuclear reactor for power generation before it disarms. Hill said Washington wouldn't discuss the reactor until after the North has dismantled its nuclear programs.
"There have been disputes from the beginning of this round of talks and it has been very difficult to integrate the opinions," said Japan's chief envoy, Kenichiro Sasae.
The North also voiced displeasure over President Bush's reference last week to a tyrant in North Korea, Yonhap said.
"They made clear that they are not happy" about the sanctions and counterfeit accusations, Hill said. "They expressed concern about this and I had to make clear to them that these are law enforcement issues and not six-party issues."
Washington imposed sanctions in October on eight North Korean companies accused of acting as fronts for sales of banned missile, nuclear or biological weapons technology.
The order froze any assets in areas under U.S. jurisdiction, but it wasn't clear whether that had any impact, because the United States bans trade with North Korea.
The United States also accuses North Korea of producing high quality counterfeit $100 bills known as "supernotes."
