Hill said the talks are expected to wind up Monday regardless of whether all parties can agree on the draft proposal, which aims to break an impasse over whether the communist state should be allowed to keep a civilian nuclear program if it gives up atomic weapons.

"I think it's a good deal for everybody, especially for the DPRK (North Korea), which does have a long road to travel," Hill said after huddling Sunday with his counterparts from the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan in two short meetings during which the new draft proposal was presented.

"It's a good effort to try to bridge the remaining differences," he said without giving details. "I believe it is difficult but not unsurmountable.

"I can't say at this point how it's going to end up... I don't think it is going to go much beyond tomorrow morning," Hill said.

Russian negotiator Alexander Alexeyev said an unamended draft of the so-called common document, which was put forward on Friday, includes a reference to the North's right to civilian nuclear programs.

The unamended draft also calls for North Korea to abandon all its nuclear programs while underscoring the need for it to return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accept international inspections, Kyodo news agency has said.

"The talks are nearing the end and will continue on Monday," Chinese delegation spokesman Liu Jianchao said earlier. Kyodo said a plenary session would be followed by a closing session.

Disagreements centre on the demand by energy-starved North Korea for the right to peaceful atomic power, in particular a light water reactor, in return for giving up its nuclear weapons program.

The United States and Japan say the Stalinist state cannot be trusted not to divert civilian programs for military use.

The timing of concessions to North Korea for abandoning its nuclear arsenal is also an issue. The United States wants the process to start with a complete and verifiable dismantling of the weapons, while Pyongyang wants a step-by-step approach.

Failure to reach an agreement could force Washington to take the issue to the UN Security Council and press for sanctions, a move opposed by China. North Korea has said such a step would be tantamount to war.

"I can't say anything definite but I believe there is the possibility of an agreement," chief Japanese delegate Kenichiro Sasae said after Sunday's talks, which he characterised as "a little more oriented" toward moving forward.

Three previous rounds and an initial 13-day, fourth-round session failed to narrow the gap between the United States and North Korea in a crisis now three years old. The fourth round resumed Tuesday after a five-week recess.

The standoff erupted in October 2002 when the US said North Korea was running a secret uranium enrichment program.

North Korea has not publicly commented on the draft Chinese proposal.

But Russia's Interfax news agency has quoted an unnamed North Korean official as saying the unamended document "repeats the United States' position, which North Korea cannot accept".

Under a now defunct 1994 agreement, a US-led consortium was supposed to build two light water reactors for North Korea to replace its existing graphite-moderated reactors, which can produce weapons-grade plutonium.

But construction was suspended after the United States accused the North of developing a secret uranium-enrichment program. North Korea denied the charge, threw out weapons inspectors and withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It has since said it has developed nuclear bombs.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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