A former White House official has warned against excessive optimism regarding North Korea's announcement to suspend nuclear missile threats and shut down its nuclear test site.

Victor Cha, who has been seen as a contender to become United States ambassador to South Korea, told U.S. news Web site Axios on Saturday that the North Korean statement was not a denuclearization statement, but a statement that it can be a responsible nuclear weapons state.

Cha, senior adviser and Korea chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that North Korea had already stated that they would halt all testing while in dialogue and the latest statement formalizes that promise.

He said that the statement talks about a test ban, no first use, and no transfer – all the trappings of a "responsible" nuclear weapons state – which is what they ultimately wanted to be accepted as.

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