North Korea said on Thursday it might boost its nuclear deterrent if six-country talks on ending its atomic programs remained deadlocked, but said it would return if Washington met a demand to unfreeze it assets.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (R) meets South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister You Myong-hwan in Seoul April 13, 2006. The chief U.S. envoy to multilateral talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programmes said on Thursday Pyongyang was boycotting the discussions, but urged patience for the process. [Reuters]

Pyongyang's top envoy to the stalled negotiations told a news conference in Tokyo the United States must lift what the North considers to be financial sanctions against it.

"I told them the minute we have the funds or I have the funds in my hand I will be at the talks. But if they continue to come with pressure and sanctions, we will respond with extremely strong measures," envoy Kim Kye-gwan said.

"There is nothing wrong with delaying the resumption of the six-party talks. In the meantime we can make more deterrent. If the United States doesn't like that, they should create the condition for us to go back to the talks."

In an official media report on Thursday, North Korea reiterated it has been building a nuclear deterrent to counter what it views as Washington's hostile policy toward it.

Washington has clamped down on a Macau-based bank it suspects of assisting Pyongyang in illicit financial activities, including money laundering.

Kim has been in Tokyo, where he attended a security symposium along with most of the other chief delegates to the six-party talks, including U.S. envoy Christopher Hill.

At the airport before departing, Kim said it was up to the United States to seek bilateral discussions.

"I always have patience," he said.

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