SEOUL - North Korean officials denied reports that the communist regime was preparing to conduct a nuclear test, a Czech delegation told Yonhap news agency Tuesday following a visit to Pyongyang this week. "North Korean officials said the reports of a nuclear test is nonsense," Lubomir Zaoralek, Zaoralek and his team stopped over in South Korea following a four-day visit to North Korea, Yonhap said. The six-member Czech delegation met with North Korean leaders, including Pyongyang's number two Kim Yong-Nam and Choe Tae-Bok, chairman of the North's Supreme People's Assembly, it said.
The North Korean officials dismissed speculation that Pyongyang was preparing a nuclear test as Washington's ploy to further isolate the communist state, Zaoralek said. "But Choe Tae-Bok told me that North Korea does not want the situation to worsen," he said, adding Pyongyang reaffirmed a return to six-way nuclear talks only if Washington drops its "hostile" policy.
He said talks with the North Koreans reassured him that North Korea was willing to resolve the crisis peacefully.