A US diplomat visiting Asia to seek support in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme said today resolving the issue would be a "very slow process".
US Assistant Secretary of State Mr James Kelly said: "We're not about minute solutions to very complicated problems" before leaving Beijing for Singapore.
"And we're going to have to talk and work together and communicate with other people including with North Korea very, very clearly".
Mr Kelly said meetings with his Chinese counterparts had been "an excellent chance to exchange views".
Pyongyang has rejected American offers of talks with conditions and has kept up a stream of anti-American invective - even as it agreed to more high-level meetings with South Korea next week.
Washington's "loudmouthed supply of energy and food aid are like a pie in the sky, as they are possible only after the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] is totally disarmed," a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said.
White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said the United States had not heard any official word from Pyongyang. He called the North's reported dismissal of a possible aid deal "unfortunate".
AFP