U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says it is "implausible, if not impossible" that North Korea will return to the six-way nuclear talks.

Clinton made the remark Thursday during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

The secretary said the U.S. has no interest and no willingness to give North Korea any economic aid at all, adding that Pyongyang is digging itself into a deeper and deeper hole with the international community.

The State Department said Clinton was expressing U.S. concerns over the North’s boycott of the nuclear negotiations. The U.S. considers the six-way talks the best vehicle to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, but the State Department may consider other ways of achieving that objective if the North refuses to return to the negotiating table.