The White House has dismissed the possibility of providing food assistance to North Korea under current conditions.

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Wednesday that at the present time the U.S. is not optimistic about "any imminent breakthrough that could lead to the provision of additional assistance."

He stressed that the precondition for food aid is that the North has to demonstrate that it is going to refrain from engaging in provocative actions and that it is “serious about moving in a different direction.”

Rhodes said that the U.S. has seen no such indication yet. He said that, instead, the U.S. witnessed the North’s failed rocket launch and Pyongyang raising its rhetoric against South Korea in recent weeks.