By Yoichi Kosukegawa

WASHINGTON, July 20 Kyodo - The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday that Pyongyang has ''very powerful nuclear deterrence'' but no plans to test nuclear weapons, regardless of the outcome of the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear standoff.

''The fact that the DPRK has their very powerful nuclear deterrence at the moment does not mean that it intends to test such nuclear weapons,'' Pak Kil Yon, the North Korean permanent representative to the United Nations, said at a news conference after attending a symposium on peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Pak, who became the first North Korean ambassador to the United Nations to visit Washington under the administration of George W. Bush, said whether North Korea conducts nuclear arms tests ''does not depend on the outcome of six-nation talks.''

The third round of the six-party talks took place in Beijing in June, bringing together the United States, North and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

During the meeting, both the United States and North Korea presented specific proposals for the first time to move the talks forward since the multilateral dialogue was launched last August. The six parties agreed to hold a fourth meeting by the end of September.

''We will be very, very sincere or serious in the coming six-nation talks,'' Pak said, adding that the United States should answer the North Korean proposal in the next round of six-way talks.

Pak denied U.S. allegations that North Korea has a secret program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

''We believe that that kind of allegations was to make a provocation,'' he said.

Pak also denied that North Korea had acknowledged at the third round of six-party talks that most of its nuclear programs are weapons-related, as claimed by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly during a recent Congressional hearing.

''We have such a program for peaceful purposes such as electricity generation as well as other peaceful use of nuclear energy…I don't believe that such remarks are true,'' Pak said.

At the symposium earlier in the day, Pak said there remain ''big differences'' between North Korea and the United States over how to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

Pak expressed cautious appreciation of the U.S. proposal at the third round of six-party talks, but said it includes ''regrettable elements.''

The proposal calls on North Korea to make a nuclear dismantlement commitment before the United States considers any North Korean demand, he said.

Pak urged the United States to abandon what North Korea calls a hostile U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.

Tuesday's symposium was cosponsored by the New York-based Korea Society, the National Committee for Peace in Korea and the National Association of Korean Americans.

Participants in the symposium included Han Song Ryol, North Korea's deputy representative to the United Nations, Jack Pritchard, a former U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, and Curt Weldon, a Republican House of Representatives member from Pennsylvania.

Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, briefly attended the symposium and stressed the need for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

Last Friday, the United States allowed Pak and Han to travel to Washington to attend the symposium.

The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, and the State Department must approve travel by North Korean diplomats outside New York, where the U.N. headquarters is located. ==Kyodo