BEIJING, Dec 22, SPA -- A week of diplomaticnegotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to scrap itsnuclear weapons ended with no progress on Friday, with envoysfailing even to set a firm date to meet again, REUTERS REPORTED. The six parties -- the two Koreas, the United States,Japan, Russia and host China -- agreed only to report to theircapitals and "reconvene at the earliest opportunity", said astatement read by chief Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei. Envoys had sought to focus on a September 2005 agreementthat offered the North aid and security guarantees in returnfor disarmament, but Pyongyang remained preoccupied withgetting U.S. financial curbs against it lifted. The six, meeting in the shadow of North Korea's firstnuclear test on Oct. 9, "held useful discussions on measures toimplement the joint statement and on actions to be taken by theparties in the first phase and put forward some ideas", thestatement said. Throughout the five days of talks, the first in more than ayear, envoys said North Korea would talk about little otherthan the freeze on its accounts at Macau's Banco Delta Asia. Washington says the bank was complicit in Pyongyang's allegedmoney-laundering and dollar counterfeiting. North Korea said the financial curbs -- announced shortlyafter the breakthrough September 2005 deal -- showed Washingtonhad negotiated in bad faith. But chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill questioned justhow seriously North Korea was prepared to talk aboutdisarmament, saying the financial dispute was a pretext toavoid the real issue at hand. "Our goal is denuclearisation. Period," he told reportersearly in the day. "They need to show some seriousness ofpurpose on denuclearisation." "One day it's financial issues, another day it's somethingthey want but know they can't have, another day it wassomething that was said that hurt their feelings. It's onething after the other," he said. Hill said early on Friday he was unsure about if or whentalks could resume. "The purpose is denuclearisation, so we'll have to evaluatethis round in terms of whether we've moved towards that goal." "It all comes down to the question of are they serious, arethey acting responsibly? And I think that question is very muchunanswered," he said. Failure to make progress would call into question themultilateral negotiations, Japan's chief envoy said. "I think various opinions will emerge on the credibility ofthe six-party talks," Kenichiro Sasae told reporters. Earlier in the week, Hill had hinted at progress on a dealon concrete steps North Korea would take toward scrapping itsnuclear arsenal, probably including Pyongyang allowing back theinternational inspectors it expelled in 2002. But envoys said the North had subsequently refused to talkabout anything but financial curbs. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceechoed her government's view that the financial issues and thenuclear talks should be kept apart, and said the North Koreanshad themselves asked for a separate working group on thematter. The United States met that demand, sending a Treasurydelegation to Beijing this week for two days of talks withNorth Korean officials. They reached no agreement, but thecontacts are expected to continue in New York in January. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/413049