Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun says North Korea is appealing to the U.S. to discard what Pyongyang calls its hostile policies toward the communist country.

The Japanese daily said Tuesday that Pyongyang conveyed the stance to Washington through U.S. experts on foreign affairs and North Korean issues who visited the North earlier this month.

Those who visited include Jack Pritchard, who is the head of the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute, and Susan Shirk, the Director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, San Diego.

According to Yomiuri, North Korea told the two that it has plans to modernize its agriculture and industrial sectors through cooperation with China.

Yomiuri added that Pyongyang might be expecting the U.S. experts to exercise influence on the current U.S. government, since both have the experience of working for U.S. administrations.

Pritchard served as a special envoy for negotiations with North Korea under administrations led by George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Shirk served as deputy secretary of state during the Clinton administration.