International negotiators listen as Chinese Vice Foreign Minister
Wu Dawei (3rd R) makes the closing statement after six-party talks
in Beijing December 22, 2006. From left are Russian Ambassador to
China Sergei Razov, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher
Hill, Japanese chief envoy Kenichiro Sasae, Wu, South Korean chief
negotiator Chun Yung-woo, and North Korea's Kim Kye Gwan. A week of
diplomatic negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to scrap
its nuclear weapons ended with no progress on Friday, with envoys
failing even to set a firm date to meet again.