The US CIA chief said Washington does not recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state because its underground atomic test last October 9 failed, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

CIA Director Michael Hayden made the comment to South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo during a meeting in Seoul, the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified defense ministry official.

"The United States will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear-armed state because Pyongyang's nuclear test last year was a failure," it quoted him as saying.

The Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the reported comment because Hayden was on an unofficial visit.

It was not clear what Hayden meant by the test being a failure. Last year, the US director of national intelligence released a statement confirming that a nuclear test had been conducted by North Korea on October 9 with a yield of less than a kiloton.

Some officials have speculated that the unusually small size of the explosion indicated that something went wrong with the test.

The US has repeatedly insisted it will not treat North Korea as a nuclear weapons state a status it has sought to be on equal footing with other nuclear powers.

Pyongyang pledged at international disarmament talks last month to begin dismantling its nuclear weapons program in return for aid and political concessions.

(China Daily via agencies March 29, 2007)