North Korea May Be Backing Off Showdown

North Korea's top leader Kim Jong Il, right, shakes hands with Chinese special envoy Tang Jiaxuan during their meeting in Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, in this July 13, 2005, file photo. A Chinese envoy met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and delivered a message from Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday October 19, 2006. Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said he had no details of the message conveyed by State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Ren Libo, FILE) (Ren Libo - AP)

Although officials in the region have suggested the North could be preparing for another test, Pyongyang would also be hesitant to use up its limited supply of radioactive material. North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for about a half-dozen bombs, although estimates vary due to the limited intelligence on the country's nuclear program.

The North has long insisted its nuclear program is aimed at deterring a U.S. invasion, and that having the bomb enhances regional stability by putting it on equal terms with Washington.

"The recent nuclear test was a quite just decision to defend the supreme interests of the state and the security of the nation from the U.S. imperialists' threat of aggression, avert a new war and defend peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Choe said in Pyongyang's central Kim Il Sung square.

To give up its weapons, the North has insisted that the U.S. abandon its "hostile" attitude _ which Pyongyang sees in actions ranging from the recent financial restrictions, to U.S. troops' continued presence in South Korea, to allegations about North Korea's disregard for human rights.

The North has refused since last November to return to nuclear talks that include the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Pyongyang has sought to bolster its negotiating position by a series of provocative actions, test-firing a barrage of missiles in July and performing its recent nuclear test.

Those moves have brought unprecedented pressure against the North, with the strongest U.N. action against the country since it invaded the South to start the Korean War in 1950. That war ended in a 1953 cease-fire that persists to this day.

There were signs the North's most critical ally, China, was moving to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution against Pyongyang for its nuclear test.

On Friday, all four major Chinese state-owned banks and British-owned HSBC Corp. said they had stopped financial transfers to the North _ a step beyond what the U.N. sanctions require and a likely blow to a weak economy that relies on China as a link to the outside world.