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Six-Nation Nuclear Talks to End Saturday

Posted on: Friday, 27 February 2004, 06:00 CST

The six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program will end Saturday, China said Friday.

There was no word of any agreements during this second round of talks involving the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas. The talks began Wednesday and China's official Xinhua News Agency said a closing ceremony will be held Saturday morning.

The South Korean delegation made similar statements.

Earlier Friday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the talks encountered "differences, difficulties and contradictions" and would continue as long as necessary.

But Chinese spokesman Liu Jianchao, at a briefing after the third day of talks concluded, said the divide was "gradually narrowing."

"Common ground is growing between the different parties," Liu said. "Gaps between the various parties are gradually narrowing. But it is still an objective fact that there are differences."

The United States promised earlier Friday to stay until the end of the talks, even without concrete signs yet that Pyongyang would meet Washington's demands to completely dismantle its program.

The statement from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing came after a confusing 24 hours that showed signs of both major progress and stalling in the attempts by six governments to resolve the 16-month dispute over the North's nuclear ambitions.

"The American delegation is prepared to stay through the end of the talks," a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Beijing said on condition of anonymity.

North Korea's five negotiating partners all say they want the Korean Peninsula to be nuclear-free.

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