GT poll finds people scared of war (2)

Jin noted that concerns about the North launching missiles or starting another nuclear test are more likely to become a reality, because it is a critical period for Pyongyang to weaponize its nuclear technology through tests.

"It could also be an opportunity for Pyongyang to extricate itself from this situation and declare victory," Jin said.

North Korea Thursday decided to set up the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry for the purpose of modernizing the nation's atomic energy industry, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday.

An assessment by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said North Korea has a nuclear weapon it can mount on a missile. But the Pentagon's spokesman and the US national intelligence director both said it was "inaccurate" to infer Pyongyang had the proven ability to launch a nuclear missile, Reuters reported Friday.

During a visit to Seoul on Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry told a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart that "we are all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power."

"The rhetoric that we're hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable by any standard," said Kerry.

The US top diplomat also called for dialogue, either directly with the North or through the Six-Party Talks.

Kerry is slated to visit China this weekend, hoping to persuade China to use its economic and diplomatic leverage to try to temper North Korea's behavior, Reuters reported.

"We really want them to ... carry some tough messages to Pyongyang" on denuclearization, a senior US official told reporters traveling with Kerry.

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