Beijing: The six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme ended without a breakthrough in Beijing today (Feb 28, 2004), but envoys agreed to meet again and set up a working group to thrash out the "serious differences" to find a peaceful end to the 16-month-old diplomatic stand-off in Northeast Asia.

The in-camera talks, which began on Wednesday (Feb 25, 2004) among the US, China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia focused on the goal of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who addressed the diplomats from the six countries at the closing ceremony of the second round, emphasised that the consensus on setting up a working group and the next round of talks "is of great importance" in pushing forward the process of dialogue.

Li did not specify the time of the next round nor the arrangement for the setting up of the working group. But he indicated there is hope for new progress.

"Spring is a season full of hope," he said, adding that "there is a thorny long way to go, but time is on our side and time is on the side of peace."

Head of the South Korean delegation and Vice Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck said the next round of six-party talks would be held between April and June.

The United States described the second round of the six-party talks as "very successful", the official Xinhua news agency reported, quoting an unidentified senior American official.