The top US negotiator on North Korea was to leave China yesterday without meeting his North Korean counterpart, who he said was «not ready» for talks aimed at pushing forward a stalled nuclear disarmament plan. Christopher Hill flew into the Chinese capital on Saturday, returning after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hinted at progress toward ending the impasse over disarming North Korea during talks in Beijing last week. Hill had indicated earlier in the week that he was returning to Beijing because China was trying to set up a meeting with North Korea?s top nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan.

Hill met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, but was stood up by the North Korean envoy. «They?re looking at the ideas and haven?t decided what they want to do,» Japan?s Kyodo news agency quoted Hill as saying. Hill was referring to ideas proposed by China on how to move forward a 2005 agreement under which North Korea committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs in exchange for economic and diplomatic benefits. North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006, has shut down its Yongbyon reactor in accordance with the agreement struck at multilateral talks that group North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China.