The six-party talks aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programmes are rapidly moving towards deadlock, following eight days of discussions during which Pyongyang and Washington have been unable to agree on the scope and pace of denuclearisation.

Despite optimism that concrete progress could be made on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement, the talks appear on the brink of collapse following the failure of the two protagonists to agree on a fourth draft joint statement of agreed principles.