NKorea will not abandon nukes for US: official

US expert says they have enough to produce five bombs

SEOUL/BEIJING (Agencies)

North Korea said it would not abandon its nuclear drive in order to normalize relations with the United States as a U.S. expert said officials told him the country had "weaponized" enough declared plutonium stocks to produce four to five nuclear bombs.

"Even if the DPRK (North Korea)-U.S. diplomatic relations become normalized, our status as a nuclear-armed state will never change as long as the U.S. nuclear threat to us remains, even to the slightest degree," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

North Korean govt spokesman

The spokesman, quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency, said it was a "miscalculation" for the U.S. to consider normalized ties a reward for the state abandoning nuclear weapons.

"What we earnestly desire is not the normalization of DPRK-U.S. ties but the strengthening of nuclear deterrence in every possible way," the spokesman said, adding: "We can live without the normalization of ties with the U.S. but we cannot survive without the nuclear deterrence."

Meanwhile in Beijing, U.S. expert, Selig Harrison, who had just returned from talks with officials in Pyongyang, told reporters that North Korean officials told him the country had "weaponised" enough declared plutonium stocks to produce four to five nuclear bombs and that they cannot be inspected.

Harrison, speaking about his visit to the North from Jan. 12, said he talked with four officials, including Li Gun, the foreign ministry official in charge of relations with the United States.

Harrison said he was told "North Korea wants friendly relations with the United States".

He was also told that if the Obama Administration makes a political decision for improved relations then "the DPRK and the United States can become intimate friends".

Harrison also quoted Li as saying that North Korea was not in a position to say when it might commit itself to nuclear disarmament.

He said the North Korean official told him that they had "already weaponised 30.8 kilograms (68 lb) of plutonium" that was listed as part of the North's nuclear declaration, adding that they had said "the weapons cannot be inspected".

Harrison said he understood that amount was enough to make four or five nuclear weapons. The North Koreans would not say how the plutonium had been "weaponised" but indicated it was used for missiles, he said.

Obama deal

University professor

Analysts said the North, which in 2007 signed an aid-for-disarmament deal with the U.S. and four regional powers, is trying to ensure it remains a priority for Obama despite his other daunting economic and foreign policy challenges.

On Tuesday Pyongyang, which tested an atomic weapon in October 2006, vowed not to give up its nuclear weapons until the United States drops its "hostile" policy.

It also called for "free field access" to ensure there are no U.S. atomic weapons in South Korea. Seoul and Washington say these were withdrawn in 1991.

"North Korea is saying through these statements to Obama, 'Hey, look! We're here with nuclear weapons in hand. Don't look at Iran or elsewhere but at us first,'" Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

Paik Hak-Soon, of the Sejong Institute think-tank, told Yonhap news agency the statement is "a message from North Korea to Obama that North Korea wants a package deal and a more intense interest from the new U.S. president."

U.S. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton said Tuesday the Obama administration will pursue a "very aggressive effort" against North Korea's alleged atomic weapons proliferation.

North Korea's already weak economy will be dragged down even further the longer the nuclear talks are stalled because Washington has called for a suspension of most aid to North Korea for not abiding by the disarmament deal.