The U.S. government says it can't consider going back to the six-way nuclear talks until it verifies North Korea has taken the first set of steps toward denuclearization.

State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. is looking to the North to take immediate steps toward denuclearization and to invite the International Atomic Energy Agency in to verify that those steps are being carried out.

Regarding North Korea's claims that the U.S. and the North agreed to discuss the lifting of sanctions on the North and provision of light water reactors once the six-party talks resume, Nuland said that the North was simply stating what it hopes to discuss when the six-nation talks reopen.

The spokeswoman said an agreement recently reached during the third round of high-level U.S.-North Korea talks also touches on the North’s plutonium issue, and she stressed that steps for the North’s denuclearization are permanent.