Open Radio of North Korea, a Seoul-based rights group, quoting unnamed Pyongyang sources said last week that Kim had told military and ruling party officials to prepare for a new test.

The North conducted a first such test in 2006 and a second in May, sparking tough UN Security Council sanctions.

According to Open Radio, Kim said during a trip to Wonsan on the east coast on August 26 that a third test was needed to nudge the United States towards bilateral talks as well as to protest UN sanctions.

Seoul's unification ministry and National Intelligence Service, which both handle cross-border relations, Sunday declined to comment on the allegations.

Young Howard, head of Open Radio of North Korea, on Wednesday separately told Seoul-based PBC radio that a third nuclear test would very likely use enriched uranium, instead of the plutonium used in the first two tests.

He said he expected the test to occur between September 20 and October 10.

September 20 marks the end of the North's new "150-day" campaign for boosting its economy, while October 10 is the anniversary of the founding of the North's communist party.

North Korea has in the past chosen symbolic dates to stage weapons tests.

The US government said on Friday it was ready to hold direct talks with North Korea in a bid to bring Pyongyang back to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations, marking a significant policy shift.

North Korea quit the six-way talks in April in protest at UN censure of a rocket launch. The UN Security Council then tightened sanctions on North Korea after it staged its nuclear test in May.

Washington had previously said that bilateral talks with Pyongyang would come only within the framework of six-party talks which also include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

Meanwhile, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday that Kim had praised his forces as "an iron wall" to defend the country during a visit to an undisclosed navy unit in his latest field trip.

"Our socialist motherland will always remain an invulnerable fortress and eternally prosper as the matchless great army is standing guard over the nation's defence line as an iron wall," Kim said.

KCNA did not give a date for the visit.

earlier related report
North Korea makes new concession to South Korea
North Korea has dropped demands that South Korean factory owners pay a huge wage increase at a joint industrial estate, officials said Friday, the latest peace overture from the communist state.

The concession came amid anger in the South over Pyongyang's unannounced discharge of dam water on Sunday, which caused a flash flood in a cross-border river and killed six southerners.

The North is now proposing a maximum five-percent rise this year for its 40,000 workers in more than 100 South Korean factories at Kaesong north of the border, Seoul's unification ministry said.

In June Pyongyang stunned Seoul by demanding a wage rise to 300 dollars a month, from around 75 dollars currently including insurance.

The demand had raised speculation the North was trying to shut down the estate, the last joint reconciliation project still operating.

"The North has proposed a maximum five percent wage hike for this year," said ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo, adding it proposed signing a deal as soon as possible.

After months of bellicose moves, including missile launches and a nuclear test, the North in August began making conciliatory gestures towards the United States and South Korea.

It freed two US journalists after a visit by ex-president Bill Clinton and called for direct talks with Washington on the nuclear standoff.

It also freed five South Korean detainees, eased curbs on the operation of Kaesong, sent envoys for talks with President Lee Myung-Bak and proposed a new round of family reunions.

However, last week Pyongyang also announced that its experimental enriched uranium programme -- a second way to make nuclear weapons -- was almost complete.

"Recently, North Korea has shown conciliatory gestures on one hand, while at the same time claiming progress in its uranium enrichment programme," President Lee told a security meeting.

"Such a double-faced attitude indicates the situation concerning North Korea is quite fluid."

Lee said Seoul's policy -- offering the North massive aid in return for full denuclearisation -- would remain unchanged despite the conflicting signals.

The North has called for South Korea to resume lucrative tours to its Mount Kumgang resort, which halted after soldiers shot dead a tourist in July 2008.

Some analysts believe it wants to boost revenues from the South to ease the impact of tougher United Nations sanctions imposed in June.

But the dam tragedy has again strained relations. Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday the discharge was a violation of international law.

"North Korea's move this time can be viewed as having violated customary international law," said spokesman Moon Tae-Young, adding it breached a principle that a country's use of its territory should not infringe on other countries' rights and interests.

Moon said the South would consider whether it was practicable to raise the issue internationally.

South Korea has demanded that the North apologise for and explain its release of an estimated 40 million tons of dam water into the Imjin river.

Seoul newspapers have raised suspicions of a deliberate "water attack" -- designed to pressure the South to respond to the North's overtures by resuming aid and business ventures.

Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek told parliament Wednesday the discharge was intentional but the motive was still being studied.

The North in June had also demanded a rent increase for Kaesong to 500 million dollars, from the current 16 million dollars.

Lee Im-Dong, a senior official of the group linking factory operators, said it was unclear whether the North had dropped that demand.

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