A U.S. expert on Korean affairs says the U.S. government will not consider easing sanctions on North Korea as a way of prompting the North to return to the six-party denuclearization talks.

Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told a forum that he does not expect the Obama administration to ease sanctions on Pyongyang merely to compel the North to return to the nuclear dialogue.

In the forum, hosted by the Hudson Institute think tank in the U.S., Cha added that with this being an election year, taking softer measures on security issues would give the Republican Party greater excuses for an attack on the Democratic Party.

Cha is a former director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council under the administration of George W. Bush.