SEOUL -- North Korea says it will not return to six-party talks, as re-elected U.S. President George W. Bush is unlikely to drop his "hostile" policy toward Pyongyang.
Han Song-ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations, said his country would not participate in talks on its nuclear weapons programs before the Bush administration changed its hostile policy, a South Korean daily reported Friday.
North Korea "has seen how the Bush administration manages its policy toward North Korea for the past four years, and thus doubts if it will make any policy shift," Han said in an interview with the Hankyoreh Shinmun newspaper.
"It is impossible to resume six-party talks at this moment," he was quoted as saying.
Three rounds of talks have taken place in Beijing on curbing North Korea's nuclear drive, with no breakthroughs. A fourth meeting planned for September did not take place as the North refused to attend, citing Washington's "hostile" policy against Pyongyang.
North Korea had been expected to return to the talks after this week's U.S. presidential election. Pyongyang's government has yet to make a formal response to Bush's re-election.
