Prime Minister John Key has confirmed he discussed Kim Dotcom with US President Barack Obama when they met at the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh last week.
The US wants to extradite the internet mogul on allegations of copyright piracy and Mr Key refused to tell reporters on the trip whether the issue was raised during his meeting with President Obama.
"I made a passing reference to it as an issue that was topical in New Zealand," he told parliament on Tuesday.
"It took about 30 seconds, we also discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Gaza, the fiscal cliff, Myanmar, the summit, the US election and the New Zealand economy."
Questioned by Labour's Grant Robertson, Mr Key said he didn't tell reporters about it at the time because it wasn't usual for prime ministers to disclose every issue they talked about with foreign leaders.
"Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to hold those sorts of conversations," he said.
Mr Robertson wanted to know whether Mr Key was told at any time last year that the US government wanted to extradite Dotcom.
Mr Key said he wasn't told.
NZN