The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has held talks in Japan which have been dominated by North Korea's nuclear policies.
Mr Powell discussed the implications of North Korea's decision to withdraw from wider international discussions on its future nuclear plans.
He denied North Korea's claim that the US is hostile towards Pyongyang, or that the US is trying to sabotage multi-nation talks aimed at ending the impasse over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea has said it would only rejoin talks with China, Japan, South Korea and Russia if the US dropped its hostile policy towards the country and agreed to reward it for giving up nuclear arms.
Mr Powell said North Korea would not win concessions by simply agreeing to attend a new round of talks.
North Korea is said to have enough plutonium to make six to eight nuclear bombs, and is believed to have already produced such weapons.
