North Korea must verifiably end its nuclear prog: US

The last high-level talks between North Korea and the US collapsed after the North launched a long-range rocket

The United States will respond to North Korea's latest offer of talks only if Pyongyang takes credible steps to move verifiably towards concrete denuclearisation, a top American official has said.

"The international community has been very consistent and clear that North Korea must verifiably end its nuclear problem, and to achieve the goal of denuclearization North Korea must engage in authentic and credible negotiations that produce concrete denuclearization actions," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters yesterday.

"So is it different than that? No, we haven't seen evidence of that. That is what we're waiting for," Psaki said when asked about the latest North Korean offer of talks with the United States.

The US is open to talks with North Korea only as part of the Six-Party process, she said.

"The key piece here is that they need to take credible steps to move towards concrete denuclearization," Psaki said.

The last high-level talks between North Korea and the US in February 2012 resulted in a deal for supplies of US food aid in exchange for a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests.

The deal agreement collapsed after the North launched a long-range rocket the following month.