"We worry given what they've done in the past, and given current capabilities, that North Korea could very well provide this technology to someone else, or terror groups," he told students at Fudan University in Shanghai.

"We know that there are terror groups like Al-Qaeda that have tried to acquire nuclear weapons before."

Few analysts however seem to believe the idea of North Korea as a major potential proliferator of weapons of mass destruction.

They say Pyongyang's diplomats are more likely to use this option for blackmail, threatening to equip terrorists if the United States pushes them too hard.

"North Korea's primary interest in acquiring nuclear weapons is as a deterrance to prevent a US attack," said Timothy Savage, a North Korea expert at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at South Korea's Kyungnam University.

"There is no ideological affinity between North Korea and Islamic terror groups and it is highly unlikely they will sell nuclear material to terrorists.

"The danger of retaliatory measures is too big."

Nevertheless Cheney, stepping up the pressure ahead of a third round of six-party talks expected before June, described North Korea as "one of the most serious problems in the region today".

Two rounds of six-party talks hosted by China -- and also including the two Koreas, United States, Russia and Japan -- to defuse the crisis have so far failed to narrow differences over a US demand for the complete dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

The United States claims North Korea is pursuing uranium-enriched nuclear arms and says it has an intelligence assessment that Pyongyang has produced one or two plutonium-based nuclear weapons.

Cheney reaffirmed Washington's stance Thursday.

"We are confident that they have a program to enrich uranium," he said, praising China, the North's closest ally, for taking the lead role in trying to find a solution.

"President Bush and the American people are also greatly encouraged by the Chinese government's decision to take a lead role in matters of the international community and persuade North Korea to completely, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program."

Pyongyang's rulers deny they have a uranium-based program, although US reports suggested this week North Korea's bomb-makers might have been much more successful than previously feared.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, told interrogators that he was shown three nuclear devices at a secret underground plant when he visited North Korea five years ago, The New York Times reported.

Cheney cited the intelligence report during his talks with China's top leaders in Beijing, US officials said.

China refused to be drawn into the fray, saying it knew nothing about North Korea's nuclear capability.

"We don't understand the specific situation on the nuclear plans or nuclear weapons," said foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan, but added: "The Chinese government is firmly opposed to any type of nuclear proliferation."

Cheney warned that if North Korea was allowed to possess nuclear weapons, other countries without the bomb, but which have the technical expertise, would feel compelled to build nuclear weapons.

"And then we would have a nuclear arms race unleashed in Asia," he said.

Analysts say nations such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are the most likely to follow suit. China is already nuclear capable.

The nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of reneging on a 1994 bilateral nuclear freeze accord by setting up a clandestine atomic program based on enriched uranium.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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