North Korea dismissed as "nothing but a sham offer" on Saturday US proposals that the communist state follow the example of Libya and scrap its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and diplomatic recognition.
The United States laid out a plan for North Korea last month that would extend multilateral energy aid after the North first commits to dismantle all of its nuclear programmes and begins a verifiable disarmament process.
American officials have also urged North Korea to emulate Libya and trade away its nuclear arms and other dangerous weapons for better ties with the West. Tripoli moved quickly from declaring its intent to scrap banned weapons in December to the lifting of US sanctions to full diplomatic ties in June.
"The landmark proposal made by the United States is little worthy to be considered any longer", the official KCNA news agency quoted a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman as saying.
The statement was North Korea's most detailed public comment on proposals advanced last month at six-party talks involving the two Koreas, Japan, the United States, China and Russia. It did not threaten to stay away from the next round in September. It said the Libya advice was "worse still", because it demanded unilateral disarmament by North Korea.