Saturday, August 19 2006 10:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: US President George W Bush has warned North Korea against nuclear testing but did not comment on media reports that the country was preparing to conduct the underground test of a nuclear bomb.

"It's a hypothetical question" Bush told journalists at Camp David yesterday (Aug 18, 2006).

"And you're asking me to divulge any intelligence information I have, and I'm not going to do that, as you know. I'm not going to break tradition" he said.

"If North Korea were to conduct a test, it's just a constant reminder for people in the neighbourhood that North Korea poses a threat, and we expect our friends and those sitting around the table with us to act in such a manner as to help rid the world of the threat" Bush added.

The question elicited a similar response from the US State Department with acting spokesman Tom Casey refusing to get into the intelligence aspects of the issue.

Casey, however, said the US had repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community towards the North Korean nuclear programme.

"The press reports that I saw reportedly talked about intelligence issues. And, obviously, I'm not going to be in a position now or at any other point to talk about intelligence matters," he said.

According to Casey, the way to deal with the issue lay in six-party talks on the crisis. "That's still what we're looking for North Korea to do" he said.

"We and our other partners in the six-party talks are all united in trying to move forward on that and wanting to see North Korea stop its behaviour in terms of development of its nuclear programs and return to the table and be able to address these concerns," he added.