Nuclear North Korea still no match for South Roh

SEOUL, Dec 7 (Reuters) North Korea armed with nuclear weapons is still no match for the South, and Pyongyang knows better than to attack its neighbour because it cannot win, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun was quoted as saying today.

''North Korea may possess some nuclear weapons, but South Korea can maintain a sufficient equilibrium in terms of military power,'' Roh was quoted as telling South Korean residents in Sydney by Yonhap news agency.

''The balance can even said to be superior (in favour of South Korea).'' Roh said yesterday in Canberra that his government's priority is to avoid armed confrontation with the North and that it knows the North's intentions better than any other country.

''Conquest (by the North) is impossible and the idea of it ruling (the South) is even more impossible,'' Roh said, adding: ''A country that cannot rule (another) does not try to conquer.'' North Korea said on October 9 that it had successfully conducted its first nuclear test and became a nuclear state.

It said three weeks later that it would return to six-party talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programme in return for aid and better ties with Washington after staying away for more than a year.

But no date has been set for the new round of the talks.

North and South Korea remain technically at war because the truce ending the 1950-53 Korean War has never been replaced with a peace treaty.

Roh has said previously that Pyongyang had not tipped the balance of military power on the Korean peninsula in its favour by developing nuclear weapons and conducting its first test.

The commander of the US military in the South, General B B Bell, has said the North's nuclear test did not tip the balance of power in favour of the North.

Reuters PDM GC1557