North Korea whispers it has nuclear weapons, talks conclude

‘‘All the participating parties considered the Beijing talks a good beginning of a process leading to the settlement of the North Korea nuclear issue,’’ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. ‘‘All the parties agreed to further study the positions of other sides and liaise through diplomatic channels on furthering the Beijing talks,’’ he added.

Liu made no mention of US assertions that Communist North Korea made a dramatic claim to already having nuclear weapons during three days of talks at the secluded Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly has offered no public confirmation. But a Japanese official said the US envoy informed Japan that his North Korean counterpart, Li Gun, had made the disclosure at lunch on Thursday.

The Washington Post, in a report on its web site at http://www.washingtonpost.com, quoted a US official as saying Li had pulled Kelly aside and said, in effect: ‘‘We’ve got nukes. We can’t dismantle them. It’s up to you whether we do a physical demonstration or transfer them.’’

But an administration official said in Washington that suggestions of North Korea threatening to test a bomb were overblown. China also played down the disclosure.

On Friday morning, host China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing stepped on to the scene, meeting separately with Kelly and Li Gun. Then all three met briefly before the three days of talks closed.

In a Pentagon briefing, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the talks “have not moved the ball forward.” He declined to say that any military option for dealing with North Korea was moving any closer.(Reuters)