US officials said spy flights will resume near North Korea and claimed the communist state is months away from making nuclear bombs.
US officials said last night reconnaissance flights in international airspace off North Korea would resume after a delay caused by the interception of one of the unarmed aircraft.
Four North Korean MiG fighter jets had buzzed one of the big planes on March 2nd about 150 miles off North Korea's east coast.
The United States lodged an official protest over the near-miss, which the New York Timesreported was an attempt by North Korea to force down the RC-135 and capture its crew.
Assistant Secretary of State Mr James Kelly said yesterday Pyongyang could produce highly enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons in months - not years as experts had previously estimated.
With the US preoccupied with a possible war with Iraq, Pyongyang has used rhetoric and provocative moves to press for direct talks with Washington to defuse a crisis over two suspected North Korean nuclear arms programmes.
"We seek peace, but we will not beg for peace like a slave in the face of demands to disarm," North Korean state radio said.