North Korea talks end, wrangling to continue

By Chris Buckley and Teruaki Ueno

BEIJING (Reuters) - Grinding talks to end North Korea's nuclear arms ambitions will shift to technical wrangling over disarmament steps, envoys said on Friday as they endorsed a broad plan lacking any deadline.

Chinese envoy Wu Dawei, speaking after the latest round of six-party talks, announced that working groups would meet before the end of August to discuss how to press forward a disarmament deal.

In September, fresh six-way talks would "work out the road map" for implementing disarmament steps, Wu said.

Foreign ministers from North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia would then meet "as soon as possible" to affirm the deal and explore ways of improving regional security, he said.

North Korea remained committed to winding down its nuclear activities, Wu said. But he mentioned no deadlines.

"The DPRK side reiterated that it will earnestly implement its commitment to a complete declaration of all nuclear programs and disablement of all existing nuclear facilities," he said, referring to the North by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said earlier he believed North Korea could still complete that second phase by the end of 2007.

Hill had pushed for a December finish for the tasks. But North Korea would not accept a deadline yet and host China decided the idea was not workable.