N.Korea talks to go on, Pyongyang stands firm

BEIJING, Wednesday (Reuters) Talks designed to end North Korea's nuclear arms programme entered the second day on Wednesday with no signs of a breakthrough after Pyongyang insisted on having a right to atomic energy for civilian use.

Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said North Korea's position did "seem to be evolving a little", but there had been no real progress since the countries involved in the negotiations last met in Beijing five weeks ago.

The United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas agree in principle to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, but Pyongyang and Washington - in particular - are at odds over how to reach that goal.

With no fixed end date, delegates suggested the talks could drag on.

"Because the talks have just only begun, I don't think we can reach an agreement straightaway, but we would like to have serious discussions to try to reach an agreement," Japan's chief delegate, Kenichiro Sasae, told reporters on Wednesday.

Failure to reach an accord in Beijing could prompt Washington to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council and press for sanctions. China opposes such a move and North Korea has said sanctions would be tantamount to war.

Despite the impasse, Washington said it hoped a resolution could be reached in a matter of days and South Korea's chief negotiator said a joint statement, elusive at all previous rounds of talks, might be agreed with "minimum revisions".