Defense Secretary William Perry Sunday accused North Korea of lying about a nuclear weapons program he said could produce dozens of bombs within a few years.
"I know they're lying when they say they're not developing a nuclear program," Perry said on NBC's Meet The Press.
U.S. officials believe North Korea may now have the capability for one or two atomic bombs, but for Perry the "overriding question" is freezing its ambitious weapons program.
Perry confirmed reports North Korea is adding a second production line that could increase weapons capability.
"The dangers are going to be compounded two or three years from now when this plan is finished . . . and they're producing bombs at the rate of a dozen a year," he said.
Right now, however, "we're not on the brink of crisis," said Perry, who didn't rule out eventual military action.
He said U.S. concern about North Korea included fears:
-- It might sell weapons in the Middle East.
-- It's in the early stages of developing missiles that could strike Japan and elsewhere.
The United States and the United Nations have been pressing North Korea to allow international inspections.
Today, North Korea accused the Security Council of playing into U.S. hands on the issue.
The nuclear tensions prompted the Pentagon to ship Patriot anti-missile batteries and crews to South Korea.
Paul Leventhal, head of the private Nuclear Control Institute, Sunday said damage from a conventional war could be a worse threat than North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Any of the nine civilian-use nuclear power reactors in South Korea "could be a Chernobyl if hit" by the North.
