U.S., N. Korean Diplomats Fail To Reach Agreement on When To Restart Talks

BEIJING — American and North Korean diplomats failed to reach an agreement yesterday on when to resume six-nation talks on Pyongyang's disputed nuclear program, but they stressed their commitment to moving the process forward.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said after two days of talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan that the sides "shared ideas that could help ensure progress when the six-party talks resume," according to a U.S. Embassy statement.

The North said in its own statement that it "promised to study these ideas."

No date was set for the talks to resume. Mr. Hill planned to leave Beijing today without a follow-up meeting, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Susan Stevenson, said.