Gates says North Korea's military "more lethal"

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks to soldiers at the Yongsan U.S. army base in Seoul October 21, 2009. Gates said on Wednesday North Korea had become a more deadly threat to the region and Washington would never tolerate a nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday North Korea had become a more deadly threat to the region and Washington would never tolerate a nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

North Korea in recent weeks has indicated it could return to dormant international talks on ending its nuclear arms program after raising alarm in the economically vital North Asian region with an atomic test in May and threats to attack the South.

"America's long-term military commitment here recognizes that the peril posed by the North Korean regime remains, and in many ways has become even more lethal and destabilizing," Gates told U.S. and South Korean troops in Seoul.

Impoverished North Korea positions most of its 1.2 million soldiers near the border with the wealthy South, has thousands of artillery pieces trained on the Seoul area and hundreds of missiles that can hit all of the South and most of Japan.

It fired a barrage of short-range missiles last week that military officials in the South said showed greater accuracy and range than previous versions. Analysts said the launch was an attempt by Pyongyang to boost its bargaining leverage ahead of any nuclear talks.

The North has tested numerous missiles this year and has boosted the number of special force troops who are trained to invade the South, military officials in Seoul have said.

"There should be no mistaking that we do not today, nor will we ever, accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons," said Gates, who was in South Korea after visiting Japan.

Gates warned that North Korea poses a serious risk to global efforts to halt the proliferation of nuclear arms and ballistic missiles. "Everything they make, they seem willing to sell."

The United States stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea to support the 670,000 soldiers of its ally. The two Koreas are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended with a ceasefire and not a peace treaty.

The United States said last week it would allow a senior North Korean official to visit this month, a move analysts said could be a first step toward getting nuclear disarmament negotiations back on track.

Sputtering six-way talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States are aimed at enticing Pyongyang to abandon its atomic ambitions in return for aid to fix its broken economy and an end to its international ostracism.

Gates welcomed the role of China, which hosts the six-way nuclear talks, in helping defuse tension with Pyongyang and called on Beijing to play a greater role in tackling risks that could increase instability.

During a rare visit this month, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gave public support to Kim who in turn signaled he is willing to return to nuclear disarmament talks his government once pronounced as "dead," a shift after months of acrimony.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Bill Tarrant)