North Korean leader Kim Jong-il says his forces are ready to "beat back the enemy" a day after his deputy ambassador at the UN said the country would defend itself against US attack.
The official North Koran newsagency reported that Mr Kim visited an airbase. "Seeing the pilots fully ready to cope with the moves of the enemy for aggression, he [Mr Kim] noted with great satisfaction that they are always maintaining a high degree of revolutionary vigilance and fully prepared to courageously beat back the enemy any time if he comes in attack," the agency reported.
The agency made no mention of the United States by name but North Korea routinely refers to it as the enemy.
"The result of the Iraq war gives the DPRK a kind of determination and the will to take assured measures to defend its territory against possible US attacks," Radio Free Asia quoted Mr Han Song-ryul.
The radio station said Mr Han told a seminar in Massachusetts that, if Washington accepted its call for bilateral talks on its suspected nuclear weapons programme, it could expect "many positive steps".