SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday it will hold onto its nuclear arsenal until it is satisfied the U.S. is not hiding atomic weapons in South Korea.

The North has long accused Washington of stationing nuclear weapons in South Korea for a possible attack on the communist nation. Both the South and the U.S. deny having nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Regional powers have been trying for years to rid North Korea of its nuclear program, but negotiations have recently stalled. The Foreign Ministry indicated it would consider giving up its nuclear weapons if the U.S. threat is removed and diplomatic relations between the two nations are established.

"We won't need atomic weapons when U.S. nuclear threats are removed and the U.S. nuclear umbrella over South Korea is gone," the statement said.

The statement, carried by state-run Korean Central News Agency and monitored in Seoul, comes a week before President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, and amid signs that the regime wants good relations with the next U.S. administration.

The two Koreas, with the South backed by U.S.-led international troops, fought a bitter war from 1950-53 that ended with a truce, not a peace treaty. The rivals technically remain at war and are divided by a heavily fortified border.

After testing a nuclear bomb in 2007, the North agreed to a six-nation pact promising aid in exchange for disarmament. However, the process has been stalled for months over how to verify Pyongyang's past nuclear activities, with the North rejecting Washington's proposed protocol.