The United States said Thursday that North Korea's stated willingness to freeze its nuclear programs might be a "valuable" move but that such a freeze is not Washington's ultimate goal.

U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that, "while a freeze might be valuable", Washington's real goal remains the elimination of the North's nuclear programs. Boucher added that without eliminating all such programs, the common goal of de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula would be unattainable.

On Pyongyang's alleged highly enriched uranium (HEU) program, the spokesman reiterated that North Korea had admitted to the U.S. to having such a program when Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly visited Pyongyang in October 2002.

The North has since denied making such admissions and has refused to discuss the HEU program, which could be used to produce nuclear arms, in the upcoming nuclear talks.