North Korean chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan holds a press conference Sunday at the North Korean embassy in Beijing following news that the six-party talks would be adjourned. In back of him can be seen a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il./AP Six-Party Talks Iced for Three Weeks

Six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program have gone into recess after 13 days of negotiations that saw the Chinese hosts provide 5,000 bottles of drinking water, 2,000 cups of coffee and meals to the delegation at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, to no great effect.

"We couldn't reach agreement on the scope of North Korea's nuclear dismantlement and reciprocal measures, especially concerning the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” South Korean delegation chief Song Min-soon said.

North Korea early in the talks appeared to have given up on the construction of light-water reactors but at the last minute revived the demand, on top of a general insistence on the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful ends. The U.S. offered to start normalizing relations with Pyongyang but North Korea demanded multi-layered security guarantees right away. At a press conference after talks were adjourned, North Korea’s chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan also raised the issue once of a nuclear umbrella he says the U.S. provides to South Korea.

Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said when the sides meet again, he did not want to spend even 13 minutes discussing the topic. Prof. Kim Tae-hyo of Sungkyunkwan University commented, "The talks indirectly confirm that North Korea has no intention of abandoning its nuclear program." South Korean government officials also say Pyongyang is trying to avoid a situation where it agrees to verifiably dismantle its nuclear program and is thus left without a negotiating card.

Kim said he hoped the U.S. would use the recess “to change its policy of not allowing us any nuclear program." But Hill’s remarks to the press during the talks make that seem unlikely. South Korean officials who reviewed the draft statement all agree that it is not a bad deal for North Korea, and one it would have to accept if it has nothing else up its sleeve. That is why many believe the decision is now with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and he is tipped to take his time.

"The U.S. can’t retreat any further. I think it's also possible North Korea will make a decision,” says Kyungnam University’s Prof. Kim Geun-shik. “The important thing is that the voices of U.S. and North Korean hardliners grow no louder over the next three weeks."

Either the U.S. or North Korea will have to make a concession before things can go further. While the talks are officially to resume on Aug. 29, North Korea’s delegation chief said the date would be decided “through future contacts." That could in the worst case mean that talks may not reopen if the North decides otherwise. Last year, too, North Korea broke an agreement made after the third round of talks to restart negotiations within three months.

(englishnews@chosun.com )