North Korea must abandon its "fantasy" that it is free to pursue its nuclear program while seeking global help to prop up its economy, a top US official said Thursday.

The stalled six-party talks aimed at reining in Pyongyang's bid to develop a nuclear warhead are likely to be one of the issues raised next week at talks between China and the United States in Washington.

"North Korea harbors the fantasy that it can have its cake and eat it too," said the top US diplomat for East Asia, Danny Russel, playing on the term "yellowcake," a concentrate of uranium, used in nuclear programs.

"North Korea is hoping to be able to rescue itself from the economic failure of its system through external aid while simultaneously and brazenly carrying forward on its nuclear and missile program. That's just not going to happen," he insisted.

He was speaking after the official Korean Central News Agency reported this week that the country was suffering its worst drought in a century.

In the past, Pyongyang has agreed to take certain steps on its nuclear program in exchange for vital food aid.

Washington has been pressing Beijing, which remains the top ally of the isolated Pyongyang regime, to exert greater pressure on North Korea to return to the talks frozen since December 2008.

Russel insisted there was a way forward as "North Korea has the option of tapping into the goodwill in the international community, simply by honoring its own commitments ... and by beginning credible authentic negotiations on the nuclear issue."

He was previewing next week's key talks between China and the US, where among other issues the two world powers would "think through together where things stand now with North Korea as well as to ask ourselves how we can further adjust our posture to accelerate" the end of Pyongyang's program.