Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says North Korea will not abandon its nuclear weapons without a security guarantee from the United States.

Carter has been visiting the North with “The Elders,” a group of former global leaders. In a message posted on the group’s Web site, Carter said that what his entourage has heard consistently throughout their busy schedule in Pyongyang is that "North Korea wants to improve relations with America and is prepared to talk without preconditions to both the U.S. and South Korea on any subject."

But he said, "The sticking point, and it's a big one, is that the North won't give up its nuclear program without some kind of security guarantee from the U.S.”

Carter deplored the lack of dialogue between the two Koreas and between the U.S. and the North. He said there have been no official talks on the key issues that divide the two countries, tensions are very high, and the U.S., as South Korea's key ally, also refuses to engage directly with North Korea. Carter added that neither Washington nor Seoul is currently willing to assist with the desperate food shortage in North Korea.