North Korea reportedly wants the United States to recognize it as a nuclear power.

A group of U.S. experts who came back from a five-day visit to Pyongyang last week said that North Korea wants to be treated as a nuclear state in future talks with the United States.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan was quoted as saying that the situation has changed since the North conducted the October 2006 nuclear test. Kim claimed that although Pyongyang may not be legally recognized as being so, it is, in reality, a nuclear state. He also said Pyongyang is in no hurry to resolve the nuclear issue.

The U.S. delegation met with South Korean security officials and foreign affairs experts in Seoul Monday, including former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo.

The delegation included former Ambassador to South Korea Stephen Bosworth and former Assistant Secretary of State Morton Abramowitz.