The latest round of talks, reconvened after a 13-month hiatus, ended in Beijing without a breakthrough last month. North Korea’s chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan then hinted the North could carry out a second nuclear test. “The U.S. is taking a tactic of both dialogue and pressure, and carrots and sticks,” Kim said. “We are responding with dialogue and shield, and by a shield we are saying we will further improve our deterrent."

Earlier, ABC News cited a senior U.S. defense official as saying, “We think they’ve put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning.” The U.S. network added, “The official cautions that the intelligence is inconclusive as to whether North Korea will actually go ahead with another test, but said the preparations are similar to the step taken by Pyongyang before it shocked the world by conducting its first nuclear test last Oct. 9.” ABC published a similar report before North Korea’s first nuclear test, quoting State Department officials.

A government official here said Thursday the U.S. made a proposal during the last round of six-party talks that could bring a breakthrough in the nuclear crisis. He added that in his opinion the proposal was somewhat beyond the level that the North Korean delegation could decide on the spot, so they chose to take it back to Pyongyang to go over it there. The North Korean nuclear problem “won’t be solved in one fell swoop even if the North accepts the U.S. offer, but that proposal was important enough to act as a basis for the next round of the talks,” he said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )