Powell, on the first leg of a three-nation Asian tour that also includes stops in China and South Korea, met Japanese officials as North Korea insists on rewards for returning to the table and threatened to double its nuclear arsenal if Washington does not drop its "hostile policy" toward it.

Powell said on Saturday that North Korea would not win concessions by simply agreeing to attend a new round of multi-nation talks but reiterated that the United States had no intention to invade or attack the Stalinist state.

However, he told reporters on his plane en route to Tokyo that Pyongyang's conditions could be discussed at the talks themselves.

"They're free to bring anything forward at those discussions but to put forward these kinds of conditions, which may lead to yet another set of conditions, is not the way to approach this problem," Powell said.

On Friday, North Korea said it would only rejoin six-party talks with China, Japan, South Korea and Russia if the United States dropped its hostile intent toward North Korea and agreed to reward for it giving up nuclear arms.

It cited a 22-nation naval exercise to be held off the Japanese coast this week to practice stopping and seizing weapons shipments on the high seas as one sign of Washington's aggressive policy as well as a new US human rights law directed at North Korea.

Although preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by and to North Korea is one stated goal of the US Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), Powell denied the three-day drill was aimed at Pyongyang.

"It does not threaten North Korea, it does not threaten the sovereignty of North Korea or the welfare of North Korea," he said. "It protects the rest of the world ... it is not a hostile act towards North Korea."

Powell also brushed aside criticism of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, which was signed by President George W. Bush last Monday, saying the North's poor record in the area was worthy of global concern.

"Human rights in North Korea is a serious problem, he said. "In fact, it is something that should be discussed by the international community."

The law allows Washington to fund pro-human rights and democracy programs for North Korea, makes North Korean refugees eligible for asylum in the United States and creates a special envoy post to study Pyongyang's record in detail.

Powell appeared exasperated that North Korea continued to dwell on alleged US antagonism, noting that US officials, including Bush, had "discussed this hostile attitude issue over and over."

But Pyongyang raised matter again on Saturday when state media said the country would be compelled "to double its deterrent force" unless the United States dropped its confrontational posture.

North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium to make six to eight nuclear bombs and is thought to have already produced several such weapons.

At the last round of the Beijing-hosted "six-party talks" in June, the United States proposed an aid-for-disarmament offer that would give North Korea formal security assurances and provide economic and energy benefits for its complete and verifiable dismantling of its nuclear arms programs.

North Korea then boycotted a fourth round which was to have been held in September, but appeared to ease its opposition with the enunciation of its conditions on Friday.

But in rejecting the conditions, Powell said Washington would not sweeten its package and vowed not to play along with Pyongyang's negotiating strategy, which many believe is driven by the November 2 US presidential election.

Bush has insisted on dealing with the crisis in a multilateral setting while his Democratic challenger John Kerry advocates parallel direct US-North Korean talks, something Pyongyang has long sought.

Powell suggested that no matter who was president, the United States would insist on the six-party talks as the forum for ending the deadlock.

"They may be waiting for our election to be over ... but I don't think they will see a change in the format that is going to be used to resolve this," he said.

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