By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

North Korea has denied that it may be preparing to conduct a nuclear test while the United States is showing its impatience with the reclusive state.

In a report aired late Thursday night, the (North) Korean Central Television Station said the allegation of a possible nuclear test by North Korea was part of a U.S. campaign to undermine its leadership and system. The North has been refusing to rejoin the six-party talks to end their diplomatic standoff over the North’s nuclear drive, citing U.S. hostile policy toward it.

Earlier this month, U.S. officials said that spy satellites spotted tunnels and a viewing platform under construction in the North’s northeastern town of Kilju, which it believes are possible preparations for a nuclear test.

``After speaking ill of our republic as an outpost of tyranny and a fearful country, the U.S. has come up with rumors of a missile test and an underground nuclear test,’’ Seoul’s Yonhap News Agency reported quoting the broadcaster.

The North’s denial, which was the first concrete response from the North to the foreign media reports, came amid some positive signs that it might return to the multilateral negotiation table, following bilateral contact in New York between U.S. and North Korean officials on May 13.

Pyongyang has since somewhat eased its rhetoric, seen as a shift from its previous provocative strategy in ratcheting up its nuclear drive. It, for example, resumed the inter-Korean dialogue, which has been shut down for about 10 months.

Officials in Washington, however, said on Thursday that time is running out for Pyongyang to return to the six-party nuclear talks, unleashing what seemed to be a fragment of the U.S.’ impatience that has been growing with the communist state.

North Korea and the U.S., along with South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, had three rounds of negotiations, without tangible progress. June marks one year since the last round of talks and the North said it would not return to the table until U.S. drops its ``hostile’’ policies.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. point man on the nuclear standoff, said Washington is growing impatient waiting for North Korea to return to the table, reiterating some other options will have to be considered if the North continues to boycott the talks.

``Clearly, diplomacy is a tool, not an end here,’’ he noted in testimony to a House International Relations subcommittee. ``And what we have to do is achieve results. And I would say that we have to start achieving results soon. Now, I do not want to put a deadline on it, but clearly, this cannot go on forever.’’

He also emphasized that Washington believes China, as the host of the six-party process, has a responsibility to see it succeed. ``They ought to deliver the participants to the table.’’

Hill said, if Beijing fails to persuade Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table, then that could also mean the failure of the entire six-party process.

South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, who is Hill’s counterpart as the chief nuclear negotiator, will fly to Washington next week to have bilateral consultations on the issue, according to officials. A similar meeting between Tokyo and Washington will also take place.

President Roh Moo-hyun is also scheduled to hold a summit with President George W. Bush on June 10, when they will discuss South Korea-U.S. alliance as well as the North Korean nuclear issue, officials said.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr