South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator says taking the issue over North Korea' nuclear weapons program to the U-N Security Council is not a cure-all solution to the problem and that it could act as a burden.

Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon urged North Korea to end what he described as "nuclear brinkmanship."

Song made remarks during a CBS radio interview on Thursday. He also said North Korea's brinkmanship strategy could make all those involved "fall off the brink," but that it could also "fall off alone."

He was referring to the North's recent suspension of a key nuclear reactor which houses spent fuel rods that can be used to make nuclear bombs.

The reactor's suspension aroused anxieties that North Korea may be working on increasing its suspected "nuclear arsenal" as it has claimed, rather than negotiating them away for economic and other benefits.

The North's nuclear reactor at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, contains eight thousand spent fuel rods that experts say can be reprocessed into enough plutonium to make up to six bombs.

Song said, however, it was still unclear whether North Korea stopped the reactor in order to reprocess its spent fuel rods. He said there may be technical or other reasons for the move.