North Korea nuclear talks limp on with no prize for Bush

BEIJING (Reuters) - Talks pressing North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms ambitions limped into a fourth day on Thursday, with dim hope of progress toward disarmament that would be a prize for the outgoing Bush administration.

Having coaxed North Korea to partly disable its Yongbyon nuclear complex this year in a disarmament-for-aid deal, envoys from five states have been asking the wary and impoverished state to accept a protocol for checking its nuclear declaration.