North Korea says uranium program near completion

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Friday it is on the threshold of mastering a new way of building atomic bombs, pressuring the United States to agree to direct negotiations or see the communist regime become a greater nuclear risk.

Pyongyang's claim to have succeeded in experimental uranium enrichment — an easier way to make nuclear weapons — raises concerns that North Korea may add uranium-based weapons to enlarge its stockpile of atomic bombs made from plutonium.

North Korea also said it is continuing to weaponize plutonium.

The tough talk came as Washington showed no signs of easing pressure on North Korea despite its recent series of conciliatory gestures, including releasing two detained American journalists and reportedly inviting top U.S. envoys to Pyongyang.

"We are prepared for both dialogue and sanctions," the North said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council carried Friday by its official Korean Central News Agency. If the Council puts "sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue," it said.

The Security Council slapped tough sanctions on North Korea for conducting an underground nuclear test in May.

The North said it does not oppose the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but warned it would be left with no choice but to take "yet stronger self-defensive countermeasures" if the standoff continues. It did not elaborate on possible countermeasures.

Analysts said the North appears to be trying to add urgency to the standoff to get Washington into one-on-one talks.

"I think this is a 'let's-have-direct talks' message," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. "The North is saying that the more delayed U.S.-North Korea talks are, the greater its nuclear capabilities will become."

Washington's special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is in the region for discussions with China, South Korea and Japan over how to bring Pyongyang back to six-nation talks that the North has boycotted since earlier this year.

South Korean media reported last week the North invited Bosworth and chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Sung Kim to visit Pyongyang for their first nuclear talks since President Barack Obama took office. Washington has said it has no plan to send them.

Bosworth said Friday any nuclear development in North Korea was a matter of concern.