A foreign policy expert who recently visited Pyongyang for talks with senior officials says North Korea will not discuss dismantling its nuclear program until the United States has fully normalized relations.
Selig Harrison, who heads a Korean task force at the Center for International Policy in Washington, met this week with North Korea's parliament head, Kim Yong Nam. Mr. Harrison says North Korean officials told him their country will not return to six-party nuclear talks until the United States normalizes both economic and political relations.
Washington has not yet commented on his remarks. Three rounds of six-party talks have produced no settlement in the North Korean nuclear dispute.
In December 2004, Mr. Harrison alleged that the Bush administration had exaggerated evidence of North Korea's nuclear weapon's program. Administration officials denied the accusation.