Associated Press

Beijing, July 28:

The top US envoy today held his longest meeting yet with the North Koreans amid six-nation talks aimed at convincing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons, but signs of progress were scant as stark differences remained between the sides. US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he hoped to start drafting a statement “in the next 24 hours” with results of the talks so far — a possible indication that negotiations were inching forward. “We’ve had a lot of discussions with a lot of the delegations, so we’d like to see if we can put some of these thoughts down on paper and see where we are,” Hill said. “We have a long way to go still.” The talks that began on Tuesday are the fourth where China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and US have come together to press North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.