Q+A: Why does North Korea dither in nuclear diplomacy?

(Reuters) - North Korea has threatened to boycott international talks on ending the secretive state's nuclear weapons program if it is punished by the United Nations for launching a rocket.

The sputtering six-party nuclear talks are the only formal forum that regularly bring North Korea together with the United States, its main adversary.

North Korea has said it plans to send a satellite into space between April 4 and 8 and the Japanese news agency Kyodo said on Wednesday a Taepodong-2 missile had been placed on a launch pad at a facility in Musudanri.

The United States, South Korea and Japan consider the launch a test of the Taepodong-2, North Korea's longest-range missile, that would violate U.N. sanctions.

Here are some questions and answers about the fate of the talks, also including China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, that would give the impoverished North massive aid and better diplomatic standing in return for scrapping nuclear arms.

WOULD NORTH KOREA ACTUALLY QUIT THE TALKS?

North Korea has quit the talks before and has threatened to do so many times. Its diplomacy thrives on brinkmanship and the hermit state has a history of staying away until it feels its demands have been met.

The often-delayed talks, started in August 2003, have essentially been on hold since December 2008 due to Pyongyang's complaints that is not being delivered aid as promised and its refusal to agree to a nuclear inspection system.

WHAT WOULD THIS MEAN FOR THE NORTH'S NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT?

Another boycott means even more delays for the nuclear deal. At this point, there is little momentum for resuming the talks while North Korea and the government of new U.S. President Barack Obama size each other up. Washington and Pyongyang also have to wrangle over the rocket launch and the matter of two U.S. journalists detained by North Korean authorities before they can move on to the nuclear talks.

WOULD THIS MAKE IT MORE LIKELY THE NORTH COULD TEST ANOTHER

NUCLEAR DEVICE?

North Korea, which conducted its first and only nuclear test in October 2006, knows another test would bring it further isolation and deplete its already meager stock of weapons-grade plutonium. At this point, another test would not bring the North enough political gain.

Also, the North's leaders could find their hand strengthened at home by a successful rocket launch, which would serve as a symbol of their pledge to build "a powerful nation" and would not need to conduct a second nuclear test.

But proliferation experts said a second test would eventually come because the first test appeared to be only partially successful and the North needs another one to see if it has improved its bomb design.

WHAT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN THE TALKS SO FAR?

Despite all of the setbacks, the nuclear talks have led to North Korea freezing operations at its Soviet-era Yongbyon plant that makes arms-grade plutonium and taking the first steps to dismantle the facility.

Experts doubt if the North will ever abandon nuclear weapons, which give it a way to deter attack and a seat at the table with regional powers at international disarmament talks.

WHY HAVE THE TALKS DRAGGED ON SO LONG?

North Korea sees time as its friend and feels that the more it delays the process of winning concessions in exchange for disarmament, the better its position in negotiations. It has played the same game for decades and feels that patience and obstruction work better than speed and compromise.

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher, Paul Tait and David Storey)