"I hope that (North Korea) understands that, as the rest of us do, that we really are reaching a fork in the road," Hill said after arriving in Beijing.

Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's chief negotiator, said Saturday that it is up to the Americans to take the first step. After arriving in Beijing, he called the lifting of the US financial restrictions a "precondition" to further negotiations.

Hill, meanwhile, emphasized that UN sanctions imposed after the North's nuclear test would remain in effect until the North's gives up its atomic programs.

"Most of the world has told them that we don't accept them as a nuclear state," he said. "If they want a future with us, if they want to work with us, if they want to be a member of the international community, they're going to have to get out of this nuclear business."

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday that "I don't yet see the conditions for a breakthrough" in the diplomatic impasse over North Korea's nuclear program. But he said that a political solution can eventually be found.

All the chief delegates met for dinner Sunday, but Hill said he merely exchanged pleasantries with North Korea's Kim. He said that the North did not want bilateral talks with any delegation before Monday's official start.

There is no scheduled date for the negotiations to end, but Hill said he hoped to return to Washington by the end of the week.

The latest North Korean nuclear crisis began in late 2002, when US officials said the North admitted running a secret nuclear program. The program violated a 1994 deal with the US, in which North Korea agreed to halt its atomic development.

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