The four days of talks, which began on an optimistic note after North Korea earlier agreed to a Dec. 31 deadline, were supposed to set specifics for the disabling, among other issues. Envoys described the talks as being in recess, with host China saying that they may reconvene in 48 hours depending on what the six governments — China, the United States, Japan, Russia and North and South Koreas — decide about the draft.

The draft “lays out an entire roadmap until the end of the year” for the North’s nuclear disarmament, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters before boarding a plane for New York.

“We’re into the nuts and bolts now of implementing de-nuclearization,” Hill said. The level of detail, he said, made it necessary for him to return to Washington for consultations.

Though Hill declined to disclose details and the draft was not released, South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said the proposed blueprint set some deadlines for North Korea and for the other parties to meet.

The recess is the latest glitch for the six as they try to push forward a February agreement under which communist, impoverished North Korea agreed to declare and dismantle all its nuclear programs in return for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or other assistance. The latest talks aimed to set terms for the North’s declaration and the dismantling that under the February deal should have been agreed to five months ago.

Talks have dragged on for four years but if ultimately successful would roll back a nuclear program that a year ago allowed North Korea to detonate a nuclear device and that experts say may have produced more than a dozen nuclear bombs.

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