The U.S. government says that it has no intention of removing sanctions on North Korea as an enticement for dialogue.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told a regular news briefing Friday (local time) that those sanctions exist for a very good reason, as North Korea has consistently failed to live up to its international obligations.

His remarks show that the U.S. regards the removal of the sanctions as a separate issue from the restart of the six-party nuclear talks.