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BEIJING, Friday (AFP,Reuter) North Korea threatened Friday to strengthen its nuclear arsenal and said Washington had imperiled chances of success of a new round of talks on ending the nuclear crisis.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said North Korean would have to boost its nuclear deterent unless Washington responded to its proposal for a resolution of the crisis.

"If our reasonable proposal is turned aside at the talks, we will judge that the US does not intend to give up its attempt to stifle the DPRK (North Korea) by force," a statement carried by the North's official KCNA mouthpiece said as three-day talks on the nuclear crisis wound up in Beijing.

"In this case the DPRK cannot dismantle its nuclear deterrent force but will have no option but to increase it."

North Korea said its expectations at the six-nation talks in Beijing had been "betrayed" by the United States' "hostile" policy.

The US position, which North Korea said "went beyond the tolerance limit," imperiled the chances of success of any future talks on ending the 11-month old crisis, KCNA said.

"By flatly refusing to exchange even words expressing the will to make policy switchover, the United States put the prospect of the next talks at peril," it said. The talks in Beijing broke up earlier Friday. South Korean officials said all the parties had agreed to hold a new round of talks.

Washington is insisting that North Korea dismantle its nuclear weapons drive as a precondition to an offer of economic help to the Stalinist state. North Korea says it wants a non-aggression treaty before it will address US security concerns.

North Korea's proposal made on the opening day of the talks on Wednesday called for the non-aggression pact and other concessions from Washington.

Earlier North Korea nuclear crisis talks ended with what participants had hoped would be the best possible outcome - agreement to meet again - but it did not stop Pyongyang from taking a parting swipe at the United States.

Host China predicted future talks would not be easy but said the six nations could achieve a peaceful settlement if they pulled together. But the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, in an interview with the BBC, said North Korea had been guilty of nuclear "blackmail" and could not be trusted.

South Korea said there had been consensus among the six countries attending the talks - the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia - that the Korean peninsula should be nuclear-free.

"The talks saw progress and also differences, but all parties thought the talks were beneficial," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the closing ceremony. "Even though future talks will not be smooth sailing, so long as all parties make efforts we can find the path to a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue," Wang was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Frustrations had bubbled to the surface as North Korea restated its terms for not developing nuclear weapons and once again accused the United States of hostility. "In the final analysis, the U.S. would move only after the DPRK (North Korea) is completely disarmed," North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted Kim Yong-il, the North's delegate, as saying.

"The DPRK cannot interpret this otherwise than a U.S. intention to invade it after it is disarmed. It is a brigandish-like demand beyond the tolerance limit."

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly kept his cards close to his chest. China, keen for some form of result from the highest-level talks since the nuclear standoff erupted 10 months ago, said all sides "explained their principled stands and proposals on resolving the Korean nuclear issue".

The crisis may require many more rounds of talks because the United States, which says Pyongyang may already have one or two nuclear weapons, is looking for a commitment that North Korea will scrap its programme before making any concessions. North Korea wants security guarantees before dismantling.

Twinning sweeteners with threats, the North's junior deputy foreign minister, Kim, raised the rhetoric on the second day by speaking about carrying out a test and saying North Korea could declare itself a nuclear power, said U.S. officials.

Despite the wide gulf, the White House played down Pyongyang's comments on arms tests and sought to stress North Korea's isolation by lauding the level of cooperation at the talks, which have so far proved a diplomatic coup for host China.

ElBaradei also said in the interview, recorded on Thursday and aired on Friday, that he thought North Korea posed the world's biggest nuclear threat.

"It is the most dangerous (situation) in many ways, because they have the capability, if not already the weapons," he said. "But not only that, they are using it as blackmail and I think it sets a very dangerous precedent."

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