A U.S. State Department official said Thursday that the United States wants North Korea to fully dismantle its nuclear weapons programs, not merely to freeze or suspend them.

The official, asking not to be named, told reporters that the North's security and prosperity, both in the short and long term, would hinge on the dismantlement of its nuclear programs in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible" manner.

He said the two countries could meet on the sidelines of a second round of six-nation talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis, but that there would be no bilateral negotiations.