SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and plans to build more while repeating its demand for direct talks with the United States, a U.S. congressman said today after a visit to the communist nation.
Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who headed a delegation of U.S. lawmakers on the three-day visit, said North Korean officials acknowledged they had nearly finished reprocessing spent fuel rods — which could yield more weapons within months.
"They admitted to having nuclear capability and weapons at this moment," said Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "They admitted to an effort to expand their nuclear production program."
In October, U.S. officials said North Korea first acknowledged a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement. In April, American officials said North Korean negotiators made similar claims during a pause in talks hosted by China.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Monday the North's claims couldn't be verified but shouldn't be ignored.
"Certainly what we know suggests that we should take what they are saying very seriously," he said at the end of a two-day trip to Seoul.
Wolfowitz has warned that the North was likely to sell nuclear weapons or parts to other nations or groups.
North Korea said it was developing its nuclear weapons as "a response to what they saw happened in Iraq, with the U.S. removing Saddam Hussein from power," Weldon said in Seoul, a day after briefing South Korean officials about the trip.
The congressional delegation plans to report their findings to Secretary of State Colin Powell and other Bush administration officials as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Both sides sought to emphasize the friendly nature of the visit. Weldon said the delegation — the first American officials to visit since the nuclear crisis began — had "candid" talks in the North, and accomplished its goal of interacting "as friends and human beings" with North Koreans.
Weldon also said his delegation, which did not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, was convinced the dispute can be peacefully resolved.
The North's state-run news agency, KCNA, quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the visit helped both sides better understand each other and expressing a desire to "avert a confrontation."
Weldon said the North asked for a meeting with Washington because it "felt there were some things it could only discuss with the United States." Pyongyang has said it would give up the weapons program in return for economic aid and U.S. security guarantees.
On Sunday, at a summit in France of major industrial nations, President Bush said the United States continues to support only talks that also involve other regional powers.
Bush also dismissed a proposal, conveyed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, from North Korea, agreeing to talks involving other if it could also meet separately with just the United States.
North Korea has repeatedly accused Washington of planning to invade. Bush says he prefers a diplomatic solution, but has not ruled out a military option.
U.S. and South Korean officials say that North Korea may be bluffing about its nuclear program to extract concessions from the United States.
In Seoul, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said his government has no "clear proof" that North Korea has nuclear weapons.
"North Korea has told important people of the United States that it has developed nukes and reprocessed spent fuel rods. But North Korea has not confirmed that to anyone else," Roh said on Monday. "Thus, we must make a very careful judgment on whether we will conclude it has nuclear weapons or not, based on those words only."