Seoul, Aug 30: A senior South Korean official today downplayed North Korea's reported threat to conduct a nuclear test and said the next round of talks to resolve the standoff over the North's suspected atomic weapons programme will take place in two months. National security adviser Ra Jong-Il said that if North Korea did make the threat, it may have meant it would carry out a test only if its demands weren't met.
``I think it's clear that North Korea is willing to resolve the nuclear issue,'' Ra said in an interview with SBS radio. ``They seem to be repeating their position that the situation could be headed that way if their demands, such as for a security guarantee, are not met.''
Ra said he believes that the next round of talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions will take place in two months. He didn't elaborate.
Representatives from the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas yesterday ended their three-day talks on North Korea's suspected development of nuclear programmes and agreed to keep talking, but did not set a date.
North Korea's chief delegate to the talks, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il, suggested that his country was willing to abandon a nuclear weapons programme in exchange for economic aid and a non-aggression treaty with the United States.
North Korea's state-run newspaper Minju Joson today said the country's ``nuclear deterrent force'' is for self-defense. Bureau Report