N.Korea Threatens to Build Tactical Nuclear Arms

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) - North Korea said Thursday it would treat any new U.S. high-tech weapons deployed in South Korea as tactical nuclear weapons and respond in kind.

The latest rhetorical twist in Pyongyang's standoff with Washington came soon after President Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun agreed in a telephone call to keep pushing for multilateral talks on the North's nuclear aims.

A North Korean statement -- issued to mark the July 27 50th anniversary of the truce that ended Korean War fighting -- said the United States was ``trying to complicate the nuclear issue'' by avoiding the bilateral talks that Pyongyang favors.

But it stopped short of ruling out multilateral talks, which seem likely to take place in a few weeks, according to diplomats.

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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-korea-north.html