North Korea has threatened to test a nuclear device if the United States does not accept its proposal to freeze its nuclear programs in exchange for compensation, Bush administration officials said. The officials, who asked not to be named, said the threat was made earlier on Thursday in a two-hour meeting between US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korean officials on the sidelines of six-nation talks in Beijing designed to find a way to end North Korea?s suspected nuclear weapons programs. The officials noted that officials from the isolated, communist nation have made similar threats in the past. «In the course of that discussion, the North Koreans made a reference to testing and they made it as part of an argument why we should accept their proposal right away,» said one Bush administration official.