US President Donald Trump suggested Kim Jong-un should come to the negotiating table to try to thrash out a deal on its weapons programme at a press conference during his 12-day tour of Asia.
But there is little to suggest the reclusive regime is keen on taking up the US offer of talks.
The White House official said: “I think that our administration has made clear from the start that the door is open to dialogue and efforts to sort of probe have been rather discouraging.
“They have shown very little sign that they’re interested in talking.”
The idea of diplomatic talks was first floated in September when US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington was “probing” to see if Pyongyang was interested in talks on denuclearisation.
With tensions at boiling point and rhetoric between the two sides running high, Mr Trump said Mr Tillerson was “wasting his time” trying to instigate talks with Kim.
But the US President struck a much softer tone in Seoul on Tuesday when he reigned in the incendiary language and instead said he believed Pyongyang should “make a deal” on its nuclear weapons programme for its people and all of humanity.
The White House official said Mr Trump believed North Korea should first reduce the threats and end provocations before moving towards sincere steps to ultimately denuclearise.
But he added: “I think North Korea has shown that they are the ones that are putting forward preconditions.
“They are the ones who have been saying they’re unwilling to talk about nuclear weapons – that that’s not on the table.
“Well that’s a nonstarter for us.”
Mr Trump, who is now in China, plans to enlist Beijing’s commitment to enforce economic sanctions against Pyongyang. If successful Mr Trump will have influenced North Korea’s only ally.
The official said: “I think that if you look at the activity across that border, certainly there is still some trade taking place.
“There is still some financial links that exist that should not under the Security Council resolutions.
“China is doing much more than it’s ever done in the past but it’s not the time for complacency or for allowing people to slip through loopholes and for a lot of that residual activity to continue.
“We know that some of that activity is continuing, and we’re going to work closely with the Chinese to identify that activity and end it.”