North Korea talks limp to end with no prize for Bush

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Talks pressing North Korea to abandon nuclear arms ambitions limped through a fourth and final day on Thursday, with envoys failing to make the progress that would have been a prize for the departing Bush administration.

Chief U.S. negotiator Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who had said there had been no sign of agreement, was headed directly to the airport after the talks ended, the U.S. embassy said.

Before going into the final day, Hill said the impasse was due to secretive North Korea's unwillingness to set verification commitments in writing.

Having coaxed North Korea to partly disable its Yongbyon nuclear complex this year in a disarmament-for-aid deal, envoys from five states had been asking the wary and impoverished North to accept a protocol for checking its nuclear declaration.

Agreement on verification would open the way to dismantling North Korea's nuclear arms capacity and count as a welcome diplomatic trophy for U.S. President George W. Bush before he gives way to President-elect Barack Obama in January.

"Obviously we would like to see progress made on this verification protocol, and so far we haven't seen that," Hill earlier told reporters. "The North Koreans don't want to put into writing what they are willing to put into words."

The standoff is likely to continue at least until Obama settles into the White House, said Peter Beck, an expert on the two Koreas at American University in Washington, DC.

"The headwinds were especially strong going into these talks because we have been dealing with the government change in the U.S. and the potential regime change in North Korea," said Beck, referring to reports suggesting the North's supreme leader, Kim Jong-il, has been sick, possibly after a stroke.