A former U.S. State Department official says that a forced recess in the six-party talks this past week suggests North Korea is not serious about giving up its nuclear programs.

Former Korea Desk chief David Straub said that Pyongyang is only using the talks to soften international pressure and sanctions.

He said that the initial freeze of North Korea's nuclear program, agreed to in a Feb. 13th deal, may be achieved in the coming months.

But he added that the real goal - North Korea's abandoning all of its nuclear programs - appears very unlikely for the foreseeable future.

The six-party forum, involving South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, opened in Beijing last Monday but stalled soon after due to Pyongyang's refusal to participate. The North demanded that it must receive previously frozen funds from Macao's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) before joining the nuclear negotiations.

The Macao bank had frozen 25 million dollars in North Korean funds after the U.S. Treasury in September 2005 accused it of laundering money for the North. An agreement was announced just before the resumption of the six-party talks that BDA would release the funds and transmit them to the Bank of China in Beijing.

The transaction was delayed, however, due to technical problems.

Pyongyang's protest blocked six-party talks discussions that were to map out implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement on shutting down and eventually disabling North Korea's nuclear programs.

Straub said that North Korea's attitude in the most recent talks was further indication that it is not prepared to fully give up its nuclear programs.