A visiting European Union parliamentary delegation says North Korea seeks observer status in the World Trade Organization.

EU lawmakers arrived in Seoul Thursday to brief officials on their five-day trip to Pyongyang, where they met North Korean counterparts for consultations on foreign affairs.

In a news conference in Seoul Friday, delegate Glyn Ford of South West England said the North is striving to join the WTO as an observer country, citing Iraq's entry last year.

But he said Pyongyang officials did not elaborate on specific economic reforms to gain observer status.