The Associated Press
Friday, December 25, 2009; 1:56 AM

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea is preparing to conduct another
nuclear test next year in an attempt to solidify itself as an atomic
power, a news report said Friday, citing a state-run South Korean think
tank.

The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said in a report that the
communist nation won't give up its nuclear ambitions and could test an
atomic device in an attempt to assert itself as a nuclear weapons state,
according to Yonhap news agency.

North Korea carried out its first-ever nuclear test in 2006 and the
second, more powerful test blast in May. The think tank said the second
test was five times as powerful as the first one and demonstrated
progress Pyongyang had made in its capabilities to build atomic bombs,
according to Yonhap.

A third test "would increase the possibility of the international
community accepting North Korea as a nuclear weapons state," the report
was quoted as saying.

The North could also test-fire a long-range missile, and provoke
military clashes with South Korea near their land, sea and air borders
next year, Yonhap cited the report as saying.

Neither the report nor comments from the think tank were available Friday.

North Korea quit international talks on ending its nuclear programs
earlier this year in anger over international criticism of its
long-range rocket launch denounced as a test of its missile technology.
The regime then conducted the nuclear test and test-fired a series of
ballistic missiles.

But since last summer, the North has been taking a softer line in an
about-face that analysts and officials say shows the regime feels the
pain of U.N. sanctions adopted to punish it for its nuclear test.

The North has also signaled its willingness to return to the negotiating
table, saying after one-on-one talks with the U.S. earlier this month
that it understands the need to resume the nuclear talks, and that it
will try to resolve remaining differences with Washington.

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