An official at a local defense research institute is predicting that re-elected U.S. President George W. Bush may now take on a more hard-line policy toward North Korea than in his first term.

Kim Tae-woo, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, made the projection Friday in a report on the prospective effects of Bush's re-election on Korean Peninsula defense matters, with special regard to North Korea's nuclear issue.

Kim conjectured that the second Bush administration may initially stress a diplomatic resolution to the North's nuclear issue through the six-party talks framework, but may swiftly turn to a hard-line policy if Pyongyang continues to refuse to relinquish its nuclear arms program.