SEOUL, South Korea — Defense Secretary Gates said yesterday that despite intelligence allegedly showing that North Korea aided Syria in developing a nuclear facility, the United States would continue six-party talks with the communist regime over its nuclear program.

Mr. Gates called North Korea a “serious adversary,” but he said he knew of no evidence that it was sharing nuclear capabilities with other countries besides Syria. The talks were the best way to confront the regime on proliferation issues, he said.

“I think that we are dealing with the consequences of the proliferation effort we saw in Syria in the six-party talks, and I think that is the appropriate vehicle for that,” Mr. Gates said.

The Bush administration has been criticized by some conservatives within the Republican Party for continuing the talks even after North Korea’s failure to disclose the full range of its nuclear activities, as is required by an agreement reached earlier this year.

The negotiations involve America, Russia, China, Japan, and North and South Korea.

The defense chief spoke at a news conference at the American military base in Seoul, Yongsan Garrison, after a ceremony marking the change in command of four-star generals who oversee American forces in South Korea. There are 28,500 U.S. military personnel on the peninsula.

The incoming commander, Army General Walter Sharp, vowed that America would continue to provide for South Korea’s security even as command of the Asian nation’s forces gradually shifted to the control of the Seoul government, a handover scheduled to occur in 2012. The South’s military currently is part of a combined force overseen by the American commander.