Hours after North Korea’s top negotiator with the U.S. told reporters that working-level talks between the two nations had broken down, the State Department asserted on Saturday that the diplomatic meetings in Stockholm had been “good.”

The comments, from State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, appeared to contradict — at least in tone — a far more negative view given earlier in the day by North Korea’s chief envoy in the talks.

“The early comments from the DPRK delegation do not reflect the content or the spirit of today’s 8 1/2 hour discussion,” Ortagus said. “The U.S. brought creative ideas