WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― North Korean officials criticized the U.S. for using the issue of human rights to intervene in their domestic affairs when they met with the U.S. intelligence chief sent to Pyongyang to win the release of two American citizens, the spy chief said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” broadcast Sunday that the North Korean officials were disappointed that his visit did not lead to a breakthrough in the strained relations between the two countries.

“They did bring up the human rights issue at one point ... criticizing us for our interventionist approach, our interventionist policies into their internal matters. So it was that sort of dialogue back and forth,” Clapper said.

“It wasn’t exactly a pleasant dinner,” he said, referring to a near-three-hour-long dinner that he had with Gen. Kim Yong-chol, director of the North’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, and Gen. Kim Won Hong, the North’s minister of state security.

Clapper’s Nov. 7-8 trip to Pyongyang came as the North has been trying to tone down a proposed U.N. General Assembly resolution that calls for referring the communist regime to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its human rights violations.

Pyongyang’s decision to invite Clapper and release the two detained Americans ― Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller ― was seen as part of efforts to improve the country’s international image as it tries to make its case against the U.N. resolution.

The North has long accused the U.S. of raising the human rights issue in an attempt to topple the regime.

Clapper said he was “quite apprehensive” as his plane touched down in the North.

“I personally was not completely confident that we would actually, that they would actually release our two citizens, and so yes, it was apprehensive,” he said. “And, from a personal standpoint, it’s kind of always been on my professional bucket list you know to visit North Korea, so I did get to do that.”

Clapper revealed other details in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Saturday.

According to the interview, Clapper took off from Andrews Air Force Base on Nov. 4 and landed in Pyongyang in the evening of Nov.

7, a day and a half delayed than originally planned due to problems with his aircraft.

From the airport, Clapper took a 45-minute car ride with the North’s state security minister to a state guesthouse. Clapper said the debate and dialogue with the North Korean official gave him an impression that the North was expecting a breakthrough.

“They were expecting some big breakthrough. I was going to offer some big deal; I don’t know, a recognition, a peace treaty, whatever. Of course, I wasn’t there to do that, so they were disappointed. I’ll put it that way,” Clapper was quoted as saying.

From the guesthouse, Clapper was taken to a restaurant and was greeted by the chief of the North’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, and had a 12-course Korean dinner for nearly three hours, debating what each side felt were provocative actions, such as U.S. military exercises in South Korea and North Korea’s own military testing, according to the interview.

It was during the dinner that Clapper handed the North a letter from President Barack Obama, which introduced Clapper as his envoy and “characterized the release of the two detainees as a positive gesture,” Clapper was quoted as saying, adding that it wasn’t an apology.

The following day, Clapper said he was told by a North Korean official that the North had “demoted” his status and would no longer consider him to be Obama’s envoy because he was only there to receive the two Americans. The official also threatened that the North “could not guarantee my safety and security.”

Before Clapper’s departure, the North’s state security minister, Gen. Kim, turned to him and said he hoped the two countries “could have future dialogue but not on the subject of detainees,” Clapper was quoted as saying.