Japan should act on the assumption that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Wednesday in Tokyo.

At a lecture sponsored by the nonprofit organization U.S.-Japan LINK, Armitage, an expert on Asian issues who advised ex-President George W. Bush until 2005, said countries shouldn't waste their time resolving the issue through diplomatic means.

"There is no possibility of Kim Jong Il giving up his nuclear weapons," he said, adding that the six-party talks on denuclearizing Pyongyang will probably produce nothing.