North Korea might be preparing nuclear test

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - Reclusive North Korea, which last month defied the international community by test-firing missiles, could now be preparing its first test of a nuclear bomb, U.S. media cited U.S. officials as saying.

Analysts said North Korea could be trying an even more extreme form of sabre-rattling to force the international community, and Washington in particular, into making concessions to the poor and isolated state.

South Korea's point man for the North said he was skeptical of the reports and U.S. officials told Reuters they had no new evidence of such a plan.

ABC News quoted a senior military official as saying a U.S. intelligence agency had observed suspicious vehicle movement at a suspected North Korean test site.

A senior State Department official, who was also not identified, told the network: "It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility."

The July 5 missile tests were widely seen as less a display of military muscle than a repeat of the North Korean government's often-used tactic to grab international attention but whose key aim - to win direct talks with the United States - failed.

"Many of the experts... have been concerned about the possible options on the part of North Korea, including nuclear tests or other forms of military provocation," said Kim Sung-han, head of North American studies at South Korea's Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security.

Pyongyang accuses Washington of trying to topple its government through a crackdown on its finances. It wants this ended before it will return to international talks to end its nuclear weapons program. The United States refuses to end the crackdown, which analysts say is causing Pyongyang's leadership real difficulties, or to hold direct talks with North Korea outside the six-country nuclear negotiations.

The talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have been stalled since November.

"It'll be a nightmare for China if it happens. It'll mean efforts at six-party talks in the past three years (amount to) nothing," said Zhu Feng, director of the international security program at Peking University.

Neighboring China is the North's main benefactor. Officials in Japan and China would not comment on the report.

"I have never heard (anyone) has ever obtained evidence of preparations for a nuclear test," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told a special parliamentary committee, Yonhap news agency reported.

Asked about the media reports, a senior U.S. official told Reuters: "We have no new evidence to support that."

North Korea has been working on nuclear weapons for years. It probably has the technology to build a bomb and enough fissile material for at least six to eight nuclear weapons, proliferation experts have said.

But they say no one knows for sure whether it has actually built a nuclear weapon. North Korea declared itself a nuclear weapons power in February 2005, without testing.

ABC said the intelligence was brought to the attention of the White House.

North Korea lashed out at the United States for holding annual joint military drills with South Korea next week, saying the drills are "driving the situation of the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a war".

Although it aspires to be a nuclear weapons power, North Korea has trouble feeding its own people and experts said widespread floods last month could push it into famine.

Last year, activity at suspected North Korean test sites led some analysts to believe the secretive state was preparing to test a nuclear device, but nothing happened.