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Stalled nuclear talks take recessImpasse over Pyongyang's demand for peaceful nuclear activities
 The Yongbyon reactor was originally built for research purposes. SPECIAL REPORTQUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBEIJING, China (CNN) -- After meeting for 13 straight days, diplomats from the United States, North Korea and four other Asia-region powers decided Sunday to take a recess from talks aimed at getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program. The six-party talks have so fair failed to result in an agreement. The sticking point, officials said Sunday, was North Korea's refusal to abandon all its nuclear programs. "The issue of getting rid of nuclear weapons should be an obvious one, should be an easy one," said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the talks. But, he said, given the fact that North Korea had been involved in nuclear weapons programs for more than 20 years, that decision was "difficult" one for them. The 13 days of talks, Hill said, had achieved "a lot of consensus," but "we were not able to finish the job and bridge the remaining gaps." He said he hoped the North Koreans would use the break to "go back, think long and hard about what to do." This round of talks, the fourth, began on July 25. On Sunday, officials said the recess would last until August 29. Lines of communication would remain open, authorities said. In 2002, the United States accused North Korea of skirting international agreements by maintaining a covert uranium enrichment program. North Korea responded by renouncing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, restarting its Yongbyon nuclear plant and kicking out U.N. inspectors. In February, North Korea declared it had nuclear weapons and said it would continue boycotting the talks unless the United States agreed to one-on-one negotiations. But the North Koreans finally agreed to come back to Beijing. U.S. and North Korean negotiators did meet one-on-one amid this round of six-party talks. In late July, North Korea said it wanted to replace the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War with a formal peace treaty as part of the negotiations. Washington has maintained the focus is on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs. CNN Correspondent Stan Grant contributed to this report. 
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