North Korea's surprise announcement that it possesses nuclear weapons and that it would not attend the six-party nuclear talks is believed to be an attempt to boost its negotiating power, a senior foreign ministry official said Friday.

In a briefing given to ruling party officials, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-shik played down the North's statement, saying that Pyongyang has previously issued similar rhetoric as part of its brinkmanship tactics.

According to ruling party spokesman Lim Jong-seok, Lee noted that the North's statement was in line with its previous contention that it has reprocessed sufficient plutonium to make nuclear bombs. However, the vice minister told party officials that the problem could get serious if North Korea takes additional action, Lim reported.

By "additional action," the spokesman said Lee was referring to North Korea possibly reprocessing additional spent fuel rods from the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor it reactivated in 2003 after years of suspended operation, or transferring nuclear material to other countries.