The US has imperfect intelligence about North Korea's nuclear capability, but it does take seriously Pyongyang's assertions that it has atomic bombs, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yesterday as he ended a two-day visit to Seoul.
"We know what they say. We have some things that can verify what they say. We don't know everything," Wolfowitz told a news conference.
"Certainly what we know suggests that we should take what they're saying very seriously," he said.
"The fact that we can't give a definitive answer underscores the fact that what we really need here is a verifiable end to whatever nuclear programme that they do have," Wolfowitz added.
North Korean state media have also issued conflicting statements on the country's nuclear status, at times accusing US officials of lying about Pyongyang's declarations while also suggesting the North had already reprocessed plutonium for bombs.
Meanwhile, North Korea says it has nearly completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and is disappointed by US silence in response to its "bold" plan to defuse the nuclear crisis, a US Congress delegation said yesterday.
Pennsylvania Republican Curt Weldon, who led a six-member US delegation last week to the Stalinist state, said the deepening regional crisis must be addressed in a "very short period of time."
"It's got to be short because the nuclear time clock is ticking in the North as they develop weapons," Weldon told a news conference after the three day visit to Pyongyang, which ended Sunday.
The North Korean leadership, including Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun, reaffirmed their nuclear capability and ambitions during the recent talks in Pyongyang, Weldon said.
"They admitted to having nuclear capability and weapons at the moment. They admitted to having just about completed the reprocessing of 8,000 rods. They admit-ted to expanding their nuclear production program," he said.
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