Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Pritchard, the U.S. special envoy responsible for negotiations with North Korea, quit just days before six-party talks on the communist country's nuclear weapons program, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

Reeker, speaking at a news conference in Washington yesterday, said Pritchard quit Friday for personal reasons. Pritchard resigned because he was unhappy with the U.S. position toward North Korea, the New York Times cited Eric Heginbotham, of the Council on Foreign Relations, as saying.

The resignation was ``not a good omen'' for the talks scheduled to start in Beijing tomorrow, Heginbotham said, as cited by the newspaper. The three-day negotiations will include the U.S., North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Pritchard, who served on former President Bill Clinton's National Security Council, favored a conciliatory ``carrot-and- stick'' approach to North Korea, the paper said. The Bush administration has moved toward a more confrontational approach.

Chief State Department arms negotiator John Bolton this month called North Korean leader Kim Jong Il a ``tyrannical dictator'' and described life in his country as ``a hellish nightmare.'' North Korea's government responded by calling Bolton ``human scum'' and a ``bloodsucker.''

`No Breakthrough'

The U.S. said in October that North Korea admitted to seeking to enrich uranium, a step in the construction of a nuclear weapon. North Korea subsequently evicted international inspectors, withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and said it had taken new steps toward building nuclear bombs.

North Korea initially insisted on one-on-one talks with the U.S. to resolve the standoff and then, at the urging of China, agreed to talks among many nations during which it could have bilateral exchanges with U.S. officials.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who helped arrange the talks, told reporters there probably won't be a breakthrough during the three days of scheduled negotiations, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

``It is impossible to solve all problems through one or two discussions,'' Wang said, as cited by Xinhua. ``Moreover, other issues may arise during negotiations.''

James Kelly, who is leading the U.S. delegation, will meet South Korean and Japanese delegates today, Reeker said. All six delegations will dine together this evening, he said.

North Korea's team, headed by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il, landed in Beijing today, Agence France-Presse reported, citing its reporter at the airport. The delegation, the last to arrive, declined to respond to questions, it said.

Last Updated: August 26, 2003 06:58 EDT