U.K. diplomat: North Korea unwilling to talk

(CNN) - North Korea is demonstrating "no willingness" to resume negotiations on its nuclear activities, the British ambassador to the country said Friday.

Peter Hughes spoke to reporters from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang a day after the country test-fired four short-range missiles off its coast. A U.S. official described the launches as "provocative acts."

"I have seen no willingness on their part to engage in negotiations whatsoever," Hughes said of the North Koreans.

The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program have been stalled for more than a year. The North said in April it would walk away from the talks and restart its disabled nuclear reactor.

The U.N. Security Council voted this month to expand and tighten sanctions on North Korea.

Such sanctions can be effective, Hughes said, even if the North is unwilling to talk.

"Sanctions, together with a wider framework of measures, we hope, will put sufficient pressure on the DPRK to reconsider its position on negotiations," he said, referring to North Korea's official name.

But he conceded, "The North Koreans themselves have said that they will not give up their nuclear weapons until such time as there is nuclear disarmament" by all nations.