Anchor: Ahead of the presidential transition in Washington in two months, former and incumbent officials from Seoul and Washington gathered at a Forum and discussed how to deal with North Korean nuclear threats going forward. As a key state department official said that North Korea is prepared to conduct a possible seventh nuclear test, a former envoy to Seoul under the first Donald Trump administration warned against another nuclear negotiation with Kim Jong-un.
Kim Bum-soo has this report. 
 
Report: Washington believes North Korea is ready for a seventh nuclear test.
 
At a forum hosted by The Korea Society in Washington on Friday, deputy assistant secretary of state Alexandra Bell said that an underground nuclear detonation is 'only a political decision' away.
 
[Sound bite: Deputy assistant secretary of state Alexandra Bell]
"The United States assesses that the DPRK has prepared its Punggye-ri test site for its potential seventh explosive nuclear test, awaiting only a political decision to move ahead. Such a test would constitute a grave escalation of tensions in the region and present a security risk to the entire world."
 
With less than two months remaining until Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office, his former envoy to Seoul said that another negotiation with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not solve the problem. 
 
Ambassador Harry Harris:
 
[Sound bite: Former US Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris] 05:35
“I don’t believe Kim Jong-un will ever give up his nuclear weapons. I think it’s naive to think that we can negotiate him away from those nuclear weapons.”
 
The retired U.S. admiral believes the incoming Trump administration should reaffirm the Washington Declaration "in its totality."
 
[Sound bite: Former US Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris] 
 "I think the time for diplomacy and negotiations with Kim Jong-un is over. I think it's time to recognize the clear threat that comes from North Korea as Kim Jong-un has threatened and demonstrated over and over again. And the time is to arm up... "
 
President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden issued the Washington Declaration during their summit last year, seeking to bolster the U.S. nuclear umbrella against the North’s evolving threats.   

President-elect Trump, however, has been critical of U.S. commitments on the Korean Peninsula, sparking speculations that the tighter military arrangements Yoon and Biden recently established might not last. 

South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyun-dong was at the forum to state that the alliance will remain strong and continue to thrive despite the power transition. 

Analysts suggest that if Trump weakens the U.S. nuclear deterrent, the move could intensify calls for South Korea's own nuclear armament, which some believe the incoming U.S. administration may support.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.