WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- A top U.S. military intelligence official said Thursday that his agency keeps close tabs on the possibility of additional attacks by North Korea on South Korea.
Lt.Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, also said there is no indication of any change in Pyongyang's nuclear policy despite a power transition.
"We see no sign that the leadership transition has changed the regime's calculus regarding nuclear weapons," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"And the Defense Intelligence Agency retains continued focus on the peninsula to provide warning against additional attacks from the North," he added.
The North launched a series of deadly attacks on the South in 2010, triggering the highest tensions on the peninsula since the 1950-53 conflict.
Burgess discounted the likelihood of North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons.
"While North Korea may abandon portions of its nuclear program for better relations with the United States, it is unlikely to surrender its nuclear weapons," he said.
North Korea and the U.S. plan to hold another round of high-level talks on denuclearization in Beijing next week.