Pritchard is a Koreas expert

US relations with North Korea have been in difficulty since President George W Bush took office at the beginning of last year.

After Mr Bush showed little initial enthusiasm for continuing the security talks begun under the Clinton administration, North Korea refused to resume them when invited to do so last June.

Things were not helped when the country was designated part of an "axis of evil" by President Bush, our correspondent says.

Washington wants to stop North Korea being able to produce weapons of mass destruction and also to reduce the huge army facing its ally, South Korea.

In return, the North Koreans will be looking to extract as much aid as they can to keep alive their deeply troubled economy.

Earlier on Monday, Reuters news agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had invited former US President Bill Clinton to play a mediating role.

State Department officials in Washington have not commented on the report.