Beijing Review: This round of the North Korean nuclear talks has ended without any agreement to move ahead on disarmament. Do you think that the talks will still serve as a format for dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue since they failed again to make any progress?

Randy Schriver: I don't think there is any other good option. This is a hard problem. North Korea is not particularly willing to give up their nuclear weapons and nuclear programs. But I think this multilateral format with all the key players is the best chance to make progress even though it's a difficult progress in that we can't see immediate results.

What actions do you think the United States probably will take against North Korea?

I don't know if there is a new step planned. I mean the United States has, as part of the efforts, after the missile exercise, put in sanctions, and international sanctions as well, and has implemented the proliferation security initiative to try to prevent any proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by North Korea. So I'm not sure there will be new steps aimed at North Korea. I think America will continue to work with China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, trying to make the dialogue mechanism have positive results.

It is also reported that the United States and North Korea will hold a dialogue next month in New York on the financial issue. Do you think the dialogue will be held?

I don't know. I mean I've read that. We do meet with North Korean representatives in New York and their UN mission. That's not unusual. We know the issue of financial sanctions is of great interest to North Korea. I can't say if we should be optimistic that there will be breakthrough on that or not.

Reporting from New York