The United States and South Korea are putting a positive spin on the outcome of last week's six-party negotiations, saying they, along with North Korea, China, Japan and Russia were able to reap more progress than expected on defusing nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula. However, North Korea called the six-party talks "disappointing" and said further talks would not help find a solution on the nuclear issue because of the U.S. hostile policy. It also pledged that Pyeongyang would never give up its peaceful nuclear program.

In Washington, U.S. officials acknowledge that North Korea's refusal to admit the existence of a secret nuclear weapons program based on uranium was the core problem in talks aimed at ending the 16-month-old dispute. Washington's top negotiator James Kelly told a Senate panel that it was obvious that North Korea was trying to generate nuclear weapons but tried to play down the wide differences. "It is important that we begin the progress and we see the commitment of the DPRK towards ending nuclear weapons, and they have said they do not believe that the Korean peninsula should include nuclear weapons." Kelly said.

Analysts in Seoul say the definitions of "nuclear-free" were varied to say the least among the participants in Beijing. In fact, critics say the North merely tried to buy time before the U.S. presidential election. "North Korea urged Washington to give up its hostile policy while the U.S. demanded Pyeongyang scrap its nuclear ambitions."

But others are striking a more hopeful note, saying the talks did serve to lay the foundation for a peaceful end to the nuclear row. They add the debate over U.S. assertions about North Korea's uranium development could only limit the outcome since Pyeongyang has continued to deny the existence of any such program. A third round of six-party talks is expected to be held around June but it's tough to expect any real progress until it becomes clear as to who assumes the White House in the U.S. presidential elections.

Arirang TV