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BEIJING : North Korea's chief nuclear envoy flew out of Beijing bound for home on Thursday after four days of deadlock in disarmament talks here, an official with the airline told AFP.
"Kim Kye-Gwan was on the flight and it has left," said an official with Air Koryo, who was in charge of boarding for the 3:00pm (0700 GMT) departure but did not want to be named.
China's official Xinhua news agency reported earlier that the six-nation talks could break up on Thursday in deadlock, as North Korea had refused to negotiate until US$25 million in frozen funds was returned to it.
However, a Chinese foreign ministry official at the talks press centre told AFP after Kim arrived at the airport that no announcement had yet been made on the end of the talks.
"As far as we know, the talks have not ended or gone into recess," the official said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao also told reporters about the same time that the talks had yet to be officially declared over.
"I have not received any news that the six-party talks have closed or adjourned," Liu said.
The United States, which froze the US$25 million in a Macau bank in 2005 due to accusations of North Korean money laundering and counterfeiting, said on Monday when talks started that it would allow the cash to be returned.
Chief US envoy Christopher Hill and other negotiators had expected North Korea to be satisfied with the move, and that they would spend the next few days fleshing out a roadmap for disarmament.
But Kim refused to negotiate until the money was safely transferred into a North Korean bank account in Beijing, according to Hill and other envoys.
Due to a myriad of technical problems, the money was not sent from Macau to the North Korean account.
Under a landmark six-nation accord signed on February 13, North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon by mid-April and allow UN inspectors back into the country.
In return, the impoverished regime would initially receive 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel for energy use, rising up to one million tonnes if the disarmament accord is implemented in full. - AFP/ch
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