Six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions ended in Beijing today with no deadline to disable the country's atomic facilities.
North and South Korea, host China, the United States, Japan and Russia have been seeking to push forward a February agreement offering the North heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid in return for the disarmament steps.
The six sides will meet again in September, the chief Chinese envoy said.
Envoys were seeking consensus on the second stage of disarmament - permanently disabling the Yongbyon nuclear complex and receiving a full declaration of Pyongyang's atomic arms activities in return for heavy fuel oil shipments.
But North Korea would not accept a deadline yet for winding down its nuclear activities. Now contention will shift to the expert groups dealing with energy aid, disarmament technicalities and Pyongyang's stormy relations with the United States and Japan.
Chief US negotiator Christopher Hill said earlier he believed North Korea could still complete that second phase by the end of 2007. Mr Hill had pushed for a December finish for the tasks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says North Korea has shut five main nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, completing the first stage of a deal reached in February.