The six-party talks in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear program have recessed with plans to resume near the end of the month.
North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan said Sunday that the main sticking point in the 13-day talks was the U.S. refusal to consider allowing Pyongyang to conduct a peaceful nuclear energy program.
North Korea says it wants to be allowed to use light water reactors to continue its nuclear power generation program.
The United States has said this will not be considered. Washington is concerned that any North Korean nuclear energy program could be modified to create atomic weapons.
Diplomats from China, Japan, Russia, the United States, and the two Koreas will take three weeks to confer with their governments.
