Minju Joson, the newspaper run by the North's cabinet, denounced a report from the Japanese prime minister's advisory body considering allowing Tokyo to send large-scale troops overseas or produce missiles jointly with the United States.

"Japan's desperate military moves under the pretext of coping with 'terrorism' are ... a manifestation of its ambition for militaristic overseas invasion," Minju Joson said in a commentary.

"It is as clear as noon day that the Korean peninsula would be the first target of Japan's attack for overseas invasion," read the commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency monitored here.

"The DPRK (North Korea) is watching the recent military moves of Japan with high vigilance and cannot but get fully ready to cope with them."

Japan has been on alert since South Korean and US military authorities suggested last week that North Korea might be preparing to test-fire missiles which have the entire Japanese territory within range.

Officials in Seoul and Tokyo downplayed the North Korean moves as part of its routine military drills and posed no imminent threat.

Kyodo News reported last week Japan's army had prepared a secret plan to cope with possible large-scale North Korean terrorist attacks as Tokyo seeks to revise its military build-up guideline by the end of this year.

In July, Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Japanese defense officials were considering giving the nation's military the capability to attack enemy bases in what can be a radical change to Tokyo's defense policy.

Since its defeat in World War II, Japan has based its defense policy on purely defending itself, relying on US forces to attack enemy bases when and if necessary.

Earlier this year, Japanese defense chief Shigeru Ishiba said Tokyo could launch a military strike against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was ready to launch ballistic missiles against it.

South Korean intelligence sources said North Korea has about 200 Rodong missiles, with a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles), far enough to hit most areas in Japan.

Pyongyang stunned the world in August 1998 by test-firing over Japan a Taepodong-1 missile with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and claiming it was a satellite launch.

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