A group of North Korean disarmament experts reportedly visited the United States last week.

Sources at the South Korean Embassy in Washington said Monday the four-member delegation from an institute under the North's Foreign Ministry had visited Harvard and Stanford universities and held talks with high-level U.S. officials, congressional aides and scholars on pending issues such as the North's nuclear standoff.

A South Korean embassy official said that as he understands it, the delegates from Pyongyang held closed-door meetings with William Perry, former U.S. Defense Secretary and Michael Armacost, former Deputy Secretary of State.

The visit has drawn keen attention as it was made just two weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Analysts say the visit was partly aimed at gauging the tenor of Washington's North Korea policy at a time when the North Korean factor is looming large in the U.S. electoral landscape.