Talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions shifted focus today to US energy assistance for the impoverished state, despite a cooling of expectations that the session could set targets for disarmament.
US President George W. Bush on Friday authorised $25 million (€17.63 million) in aid for the North, which would provide up to 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, as a reward for Pyongyang's commitment to disable its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device last year, shut down and sealed its Yongbyon nuclear plant and allowed UN monitors back to the site in July.
Those were its first steps in carrying out a breakthrough agreement reached in February at the six-party talks, which group the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.
But it must now disable its atomic facilities and make a declaration of all of its nuclear programmes, in return for a huge injection of fuel aid and an end to diplomatic isolation.
China and South Korea have delivered initial fuel shipments and Russia is expected to do so too, but Japan has indicated it will not participate unless North Korea addresses the issue of Japanese citizens the North abducted in the 1970s and 1980s.