'No proof' of N Korea nukes

2005-02-14 13:18

Seoul - It's too early to declare North Korea a nuclear power despite its claim last week to have atomic weapons, because the weapons have not been tested or even confirmed to exist, South Korea's spokesperson on the North said on Monday.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said North Korea hasn't conducted nuclear tests, as have countries such as India and Pakistan.

"I believe it is early for us to call the North a nuclear state" when it has not been independently confirmed, Chung told a special hearing of parliament. He said that even senior US officials who have pushed for a hard line on North Korea have said it's not clear if North Korea really has nuclear weapons.

North Korea announced last Thursday that it has built nuclear weapons and was staying away from international disarmament talks. The claim could not be independently verified, but it dramatically raised tensions in the two-year standoff that began after American officials said North Korea admitted to restarting its nuclear programme in violation of a bilateral agreement.

Chung noted North Korea has said it has atomic weapons at least 10 times since 2003 through official and unofficial channels, and said Thursday's announcement appears to be a negotiating tactic for the nuclear talks.

"It's definite that North Korea possesses 10 to 14kg of plutonium that can make one or two nuclear weapons," he said. However, he said there was no "conclusive evidence that North Korea made plutonium bombs" with the material, but that other countries suspect North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs.

Inter-Korean talks have been stalled since last year, but Chung said South Korea would try to revive talks with the North to ease tensions over North Korea's statement. He also said the North had expressed its goal of solving the standoff through negotiations.

On Monday, Chung urged North Korea to embrace the spirit of denuclearisation, saying it will "be difficult for North Korea to become a trusted member of the international community if it holds and develops nuclear weapons".

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday in Washington amid USefforts to coax North Korea back to six-nation talks on ending the North's nuclear program.

North Korea said last week that it needed nuclear weapons to defend itself from the alleged threat of a US invasion. Washington denies it intends to attack and insists that the isolated, communist North return to the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

The United States, South Korea and other countries involved in the talks have urged Beijing - Pyongyang's last major ally and a key supplier of food and energy to the impoverished country - to use its influence over North Korea. China pledged over the weekend to try to revive the talks.

- AP