By Hooyeon Kim / Bloomberg News

SEOUL, South Korea — A senior North Korean official said his country would be willing to talk to the U.S. government if conditions were right, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Saturday.

The comment in Beijing by Choe Sun-hui, director general for North American affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that he would be “honored” to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un under the right conditions. Trump has also pledged to consider all options to rein in Kim’s nuclear-arms ambitions.

“To say ‘under right conditions’ basically means they won’t talk now,” said Shin Beomchul, a research fellow at Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. “The remark is definitely a bit softer in tone compared to the past when the North would’ve said no to talks unless the U.S. acknowledges them as a nuclear power. “

Last week, the U.S. House passed legislation that would expand economic and human-rights sanctions against North Korea. South Korea this past week elected a new president, Moon Jae-in, who favors a two-track approach on sanctions and talks with the North.

Choe was part of a North Korean delegation that recently met with a group of American experts in Oslo, Norway, Yonhap reported.

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests in defiance of United Nations and U.S. sanctions and says it is working on long-range missiles to deliver nuclear weapons.