STOCKHOLM - Working-level nuclear talks in Sweden between officials from Pyongyang and Washington have broken off, North Korea's top negotiator has said, dashing prospects for an end to months of stalemate.
The talks, at an isolated conference centre on the outskirts of Stockholm, were the first such formal discussions since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in June and agreed to restart negotiations that stalled after a failed summit in Vietnam in February.
North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, who spent much of the day in talks with a US delegation, cast the blame on what he portrayed as US inflexibility, saying the other side's negotiators would not "give up their old viewpoint and attitude".
"The negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off," Kim Myong Gil told reporters outside the North Korean embassy, speaking through an interpreter.
The US State Department said Kim Myong Gil's comments did not reflect "the content or spirit" of nearly nine hours of talks, and that Washington had accepted Sweden's invitation to return for more discussions with Pyongyang in two weeks.
"The US brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts," spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
She said the US delegation had previewed a number of new initiatives that would pave the way for progress in the talks and underscored the importance of more intensive engagement.
"The United States and the DPRK will not overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula through the course of a single Saturday," she said.
"These are weighty issues, and they require a strong commitment by both countries. The United States has that commitment."(FA)