A U.S. expert on Korean affairs says containing North Korea’s proliferation threat is more important at this point in time than immediately seeking negotiations to discuss the scrapping of Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Georgetown University Professor Victor Cha said in an article contributed to the Washington Post on Sunday that freezing, disabling and degrading Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities is an important object of the six-way nuclear talks, even if the stated goal remains total denuclearization.

Cha said since the talks will never achieve what either Washington or Pyongyang wants, they serve as a way to manage the nuclear issue, contain the proliferation threat and run out the clock on the North's government.

Cha was deputy chief of the U.S. delegation to the six-party talks during the Bush administration.

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