"Both of our governments (Washington and Seoul) think that North Korea's claims are exaggerated, specifically, the argument that it has already completed reprocessing of plutonium, and that it is very close to developing a nuclear weapon," he said in an interview with the ABC television network on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Korean War,

North Korea, which US intelligence believes to have one or two nuclear bombs, claims it has finished processing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, enough to make about six nuclear devices.

"It is true that there are some indications that North Korea did reprocess a little plutonium," Roh said through a translator.

"But when we look at the analysis, even if they did reprocess the plutonium, it was done on a very small scale, a very small amount. Overall, I don't think their reprocessing is very serious."

Roh, who like his predecessor favors a policy of engagement with North Korea, said he believed the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive would be solved peacefully.

The crisis flared last October when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted having a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 bilateral accord, and suspended fuel deliveries to the energy-starved state.

"We have many concerns regarding the nuclear weapons program, but fundamentally believe this problem will be solved peacefully," Roh told ABC.

On Pyongyang's contention that it is developing a nuclear program to counter US threats and its resulting demand for bilateral talks with Washington, the South Korean leader said: "I don't think bilateral negotiations between North Korea and the US themselves will result in a thorough and complete resolution of this situation.

"I think we need to have five or six parties included in the talks to resolve this issue permanently," Roh said.

But he conceded that the North Koreans "really need to have some kind of dialogue with the US, even if it's only once."

"So I think that having the trilateral talks and expanding to multilateral talks is a very reasonable option," he said. "Once we begin comprehensive talks in a multilateral form, North Korea will have many different ways to get the security guarantees it seeks."

"In the future negotiation process, if the United States gives some kind of indication that they are willing to guarantee the safety of the North Korean regime, I don't think we need to have a formal legal document," the South Korean leader said.

Beijing recently stepped up diplomatic efforts to bring the parties together through multilateral talks and South Korean officials have indicated that these efforts could result in talks as early as next month.

China hosted trilateral talks with the United States and North Korea in Beijing in April at which Pyongyang demanded a series of concessions from Washington before it would address US concerns about nuclear weapons.

Washington has been pressing for expanded multilateral talks to include Japan and South Korea.

Roh meanwhile said Washington and Seoul had resolved differences over how best to deal with Pyongyang.

"We agreed in principle that this matter should be resolved in a peaceful manner. There are now no disagreements and no distrust between our governments,"he added.

SPACE.WIRE