PYONGYANG, North Korea, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- North Korea says the disclosure of South Korea's nuclear experiments has "thrown great hurdles" in the way of talks on its own nuclear program.
The official Korean Central News Agency Thursday quoted a ministry spokesman as saying North Korea would not attend the six-nation talks until questions are answered about South Korea and its nuclear testing.
"The DPRK (North Korea) can never sit at the table to negotiate its nuclear weapon program unless truth about the secret nuclear experiments in South Korea is fully probed," the spokesman said.
North Korea also accused the United States of applying double standards to North and South Korea -- tolerating nuclear experiments by the South, while demanding an end to nuclear programs in the North.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the two programs were not connected.
"I think there are two separate things here," he said.
South Korea recently acknowledged it conducted a plutonium-based nuclear experiment in 1982. The admission came shortly after it said it conducted a uranium test in 2000, sparking suspicions the country was developing nuclear weapons.
