N. Korea Nuke Talks End Without Deal

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, left, walks through a hotel with members of his delegation before leaving for a fifth day of discussions at six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program Friday Dec. 22, 2006, in Beijing. Hill said that there were no signs of a breakthrough in the talks and blamed the North for not being serious about the negotiations. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) (Greg Baker - AP)

BEIJING -- The first talks on North Korea's nuclear program since the communist nation tested an atomic device ended Friday without an agreement on disarmament or a date for further negotiations.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the talks, said negotiations would resume in "weeks, not months."

During five days of meetings in Beijing, negotiators said Pyongyang refused to talk about its nuclear weapons program, and instead stuck to its demand that the U.S. remove financial restrictions it has imposed on the regime.

Hill said it appeared North Korea had not given its negotiators any authority to discuss anything but the financial issue.

"Clearly, negotiators ought to come armed with some instructions to negotiate," he said Friday evening.

Hill insisted the talks would not be left in limbo for another 13 months, and that Washington remained committed to resolving the issue in the six-nation format.

"We have to make progress _ we should have made that progress this week," he said.

North Korea's envoy said the communist nation would bolster its atomic arsenal in response to U.S. pressure.

"The U.S. is taking a tactic of both dialogue and pressure, and carrots and sticks," Kim Kye Gwan told reporters. "We are responding with dialogue and a shield, and by a shield we are saying we will further improve our deterrent."

After five days of negotiations, the delegates merely reaffirmed a September 2005 joint statement _ the only one ever reached at the talks _ in which the North pledged to disarm in exchange for security guarantees and aid, Chinese envoy Wu Dawei said.

The North had ended its 13-month boycott of the talks _ which include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea _ after the U.S. agreed to discuss its campaign to isolate the communist nation from the international financial system for alleged financial crimes, including counterfeiting and money laundering.

Separate talks this week on that issue in Beijing failed to bridge differences between the sides.