An expert on international governance affairs says North Korea has been interested in acquiring membership in the World Trade Organization for at least four years.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, the director of the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (CASIN), Jean Freymond, also said North Korean officials have visited Belgium every year for contacts with international organizations.

Freymond said CASIN has provided training courses to Pyongyang officials since 1997, with a plan to offer mass training session on the market economy and trade to twelve officials around September.

The director noted the North shifted its learning focus last year to basic concept and principles of the market economy, international trade and trade diplomacy from its previous concentration on multilateral diplomacy and a 'development and cooperation' system.