N. Korea talks tough on atomic arms

North Korea yesterday strongly implied it had deployed nuclear weapons and accused Washington of using the North's comments on atomic bombs at talks last week as a "mean trick" to hinder progress.

The US State Department says North Korea told US negotiators at the talks in Beijing that Pyongyang had nuclear weapons, something US intelligence has long suspected.

The United States has described a North Korean disarmament proposal made in Beijing as blackmail but promised to study it. The Bush administration is divided about how to proceed.

The communist North's official KCNA news agency, in a long commentary, said the three-day talks, which also included Chinese representatives, were fruitless but not an utter failure.

Using a standard North Korean tactic of apportioning blame early, it said the future was up to Washington, which it accused of having an increasingly hostile policy towards the North.

"The reality requires the DPRK to deter the escalating US moves to stifle the DPRK with physical force, compels it to opt for possessing a necessary deterrent force and put it into practice," said the North Korean Foreign Ministry in a statement issued by KCNA and read out on North Korean television.

DPRK is short for the North's name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.