North Korea says it will not return to the negotiation table aimed at ending its nuclear program until newly re-elected U.S. President George W. Bush comes up with a new policy toward the communist country.

Saturday’s declaration means that the stalled six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program are unlikely to resume in the near future.

Earlier, U.S. officials expressed hope for a new meeting to be held this month or next.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying his government will wait until Bush’s second administration decides its North Korea policy before it goes back to the six-way talks.

The spokesman said in the report that Pyongyang’s leadership made the wait-and-see decision after a series of talks with Chinese and U.S. officials in the recent past.

The official was quoted as saying that his government confirmed in a recent meeting with the U.S. that Washington is not willing to change its hard-line policy toward the North and intends to use the six-party talks as leverage for forcing them to dismantle their entire nuclear program.

The spokesman blamed the stalled talks on what he called Washington’s “hostile” policy toward North Korea.