North Korea says it will take "stronger self-defensive measures" in response to proposals to beef up US forces in the Pacific region as a deterrent to the communist state in the event of war in Iraq.
Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said today that Washington's talk of military reinforcements showed it was not serious in calling for a peaceful resolution of a crisis over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons.
"The United States is deceptively talking about having no intention of attacking us and seeking a peaceful resolution but behind this dialogue refrain they are mocking us by finalising war preparations," said KCNA in a Korean-language statement.
"Under these conditions, our army and people will respond with stronger self-defensive measures," it said, without elaborating on how the world's most militarised state would increase its war readiness.
The statement repeated North Korea's call for the United States to sign a non-aggression treaty to end the four-month-old nuclear impasse.
On Monday, US defence officials said the Pentagon was considering reinforcements in the western Pacific to deter any North Korean aggression in case of war in Iraq.
They said Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld had yet to issue any final orders to move B-52 bombers, F-16 fighter jets or naval units closer to the Korean peninsula.
US Deputy Secretary of State Mr Richard Armitage told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that direct talks would come about once the United States had established "a strong international platform" for them.
US officials said Mr Armitage was referring to Washington's attempts to work within a consensus including South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the European Union.
The crisis erupted last October when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted to enriching uranium in violation of a 1994 accord, under which it froze its nuclear programme in exchange for two energy-generating reactors and free fuel.