If the deal goes through, Nigeria would join Libya, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan and Syria among countries reported to have received North Korea's help with either missiles or missile technology.
Nigeria, which is not at war or under any known threat from other countries, said any missile help would be used for "peacekeeping" and to protect its territory. It said it was not seeking nuclear technology or weapons of mass destruction.
A Nigerian official said no hardware acquisitions had yet been made or decided. The government did not say whether Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation and West Africa's military giant, would obtain missiles or simply receive help making them.
Referring to the announcement — as well as press reports that Nigeria later turned down the offer — State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "Obviously, this issue of regional stability and military acquisition is something that we do care about, something that's a regular part of our dialogue with Nigeria."
North Korea largely exports "simple, robust" Scud missile technology — not up-to-date, but useful for countries with relatively unsophisticated militaries, said Rose Gottemoeller of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Weapons sales are a major source of revenue for financially strapped North Korea, but it is unusual for one of its clients to talk about a transaction publicly.
Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar reached the accord with Yang Hyong Sop, the visiting vice president of North Korea's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Abubakar's spokesman, Onukaba Ojo, told The Associated Press.
The two committed to a "program of cooperation that includes missile technology," Ojo said.
A statement from Abubakar's office said Nigeria's "government would continue to cooperate with the Korean government in the defense sector, an area in which both Nigeria and North Korea had cooperated over the years."
The North Korean was in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on a bilateral visit from Tuesday to Saturday.
The United States alleges that Pyongyang reaped about $560 million from missile sales in 2001.
South Korea (news - web sites) downplayed the offer. "I see it as a tactic by North Korea to arouse anxiousness from the United States ahead of the second round of six-nation talks," Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said Thursday.
The deal made public Wednesday takes the North Koreans well out of their normal selling base, the Mideast, Gottemoeller said. "What is surprising is that they're so far afield," she said.
Nigeria would be North Korea's first known sub-Saharan partner.
Ojo initially said both sides were committed to the deal, but later called back AP to say that "nothing was written in stone."
Although North Korean officials had shown their Nigerian military counterparts a "catalog of what they have, nothing has been finalized and Nigeria has not taken any concrete steps toward acquiring it yet," the Nigerian official said.
Ojo said he had not seen the catalog and did not know what kinds of missiles or other weapons were in it.
"This is just a memorandum of understanding. No action has been taken yet," Ojo added.
Nigeria hopes the United States and other Western nations opposed to North Korean nuclear and weapons proliferation would respect the deal, Ojo said.
"We are a sovereign nation. We should be able to cooperate with any nation we wish to cooperate with as long as it is in the best interests of Nigeria," he added, stressing Nigeria "is not shopping around for nuclear technology or weapons of mass destruction."
"Whatever we are discussing with them is only to enhance the capability of our military for peacekeeping and to protect Nigeria's territorial integrity," Ojo added.
Nigeria's military supplies much of the manpower of regional peace missions. Ojo declined to say what possible peacekeeping use missiles would have.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and the North Korean official met Wednesday on economic matters. "As far as I know, there was no discussion on defense or military matters," Obasanjo spokeswoman Remi Oyo said. Nigeria, with 126 million people, is a political and military heavyweight on the continent and a frequent recipient of U.S. military and law enforcement assistance.
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Associated Press reporter Edward Harris contributed from Dakar, Senegal.
