The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) judged last year that Pyongyang had failed to meet necessary conditions to continue the multi-billion dollar project which arose from a 1994 anti-nuclear deal between Washington and Pyongyang.

The United States considers the deal, known as the Agreed Framework, ruptured after accusing Pyongyang in 2002 of launching a prohibited program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

"KEDO Executive Board members -- the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the European Union -- held useful discussions today," the State Department said in a statement issued in Washington.

Discussions centered on issues relating to implementation of the suspension of the light water reactor project in North Korea, the statement said.

"As we have made clear, we see no future for the light water reactor project."

The suspension comes amid intensified diplomatic efforts to convene a new round of multilateral talks to resolve the nuclear crisis following initial six-country talks in Beijing in August.

KEDO suspended the project for one year, a compromise between and US calls for a complete cancellation and a more lenient South Korean position.

The future of the project will be assessed and decided before the one-year suspension expires on December 1.

Despite the suspension, preservation and maintenance work to continue will continue on the site where the project was to have produced two light water reactors, not deemed suitable for the production of weapons grade material.

Construction work began in 1998 and is only one-third finished, although completion of the project was scheduled for 2003, according to the North Koreans. Experts say it would take at least five more years to finish the complex.

WAR.WIRE