North Korea said Thursday that any United Nations discussion of its upcoming rocket launch would be seen as a "hostile act" and would cause the breakdown of nuclear disarmament talks.

A foreign ministry spokesman said even a discussion by the UN Security Council of the launch, "to say nothing of its adoption of any document containing even a single word critical of the launch whether in the form of a 'presidential statement' or a 'press statement', will be regarded as a blatant hostile act."

The communist state has scheduled the launch of what it calls a peaceful communications satellite for between April 4-8.

The United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is a pretext for a long-range missile test and they would refer it to the United Nations Security Council.

The spokesman told official media that such a "hostile" act would be in breach of a landmark nuclear disarmament deal which the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia reached in September 2005.

The deal was formalised in a February 2007 pact which led the North to shut down its plutonium-producing atomic plants in return for energy aid.

"All the processes for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, which have been pushed forward so far, will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken," the spokesman warned.

The foreign ministry said its latest comments were being made in response to the "deliberate misinterpretation" by some media of an earlier statement.

It said its Tuesday statement had been misconstrued to mean that only UN sanctions or a resolution would be viewed as a hostile act.

earlier related report

US to meet with Seoul, Tokyo as NKorea tension flares

Senior US, Japanese and South Korean negotiators will meet here Friday to discuss soaring tensions with North Korea as it prepares to launch a rocket in defiance of international warnings.

The US Navy, meanwhile, moved two US warships with Aegis missile tracking systems to waters off Japan, a navy spokesman said.

The Washington talks were announced as North Korea said Thursday that any move to take its upcoming rocket launch before the United Nations would be seen as a "hostile act" and trigger the breakdown of six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

The US State Department said Pyongyang was maintaining a "provocative posture" and said senior US officials would hold bilateral talks Friday with top South Korean and Japanese negotiators, with three-way talks possibly to follow.

"What is most important is the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. That is what's most important," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

"The United States continues to believe that the six-party talks are the best vehicle to achieve that goal."

Pyongyang's foreign ministry had earlier dramatically raised the stakes in its showdown with the international community, warning it would view any move to take the rocket launch to the UN "as a blatant hostile act."

The isolated state has announced it will fire a rocket between April 4-8 to put a communications satellite into orbit for peaceful purposes.

The rocket — believed to be a long-range Taepodong-2 missile theoretically capable of reaching Alaska — has been moved to a launch pad, a US counter-proliferation official told AFP here.

But the United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is a pretext for a long-range missile test.

"North Korea is attempting to demonstrate an ICBM capability through a space launch, that's what they are up to," the US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said, referring to an incontinental ballistic missile.

"I think that most of the world understands the game they're playing," he told journalists Thursday.

"They're risking an international opprobrium on them and hopefully worse when they successfully launch it or if they launch it at all."

Two US destroyers fitted with Aegis technology to track and destroy missiles left Sasebo port in southwestern Japan port on Wednesday, US Navy public relations officer Charles Howard told AFP in Tokyo.

"I would say we are ready for any contingencies," he said, after the US has said it has the capability to shoot down a rocket if it is threatened.

Friday's talks will be led by the new US policy director for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, and the US special envoy to the six-party talks, Sung Kim.

They will meet with South Korea's chief negotiator in the talks, Wi Sung-lak, and Japanese foreign ministry director general Akitaka Saiki.

North Korea formalized a landmark nuclear disarmament deal in February 2007 with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia to shut down its plutonium-producing atomic plants in return for energy aid.

The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman told official media that referring the rocket launch to the United Nations would breach that deal, meaning "the six-party talks will come to an end."

"All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, which have been pushed forward so far, will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken," the spokesman said.

Duguid tried to downplay the risks of North Korea withdrawing from the talks, adding: "I'm not going to preview what reaction might occur upon a possible launch by North Korea.

"However, if we are talking about the facts of a launch, it would be in violation, in our view, of UN Security Council resolutions. Therefore, the place to pursue a reaction would be through the UN Security Council," he said.

The Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan, hinted Thursday the North could resort to a second nuclear test should the UN sanction it.

But Duguid said such discussion about statements in the North Korean media was a distraction from the task of providing peace on the Korean peninsula.

Such declarations were "a provocative posture that is simply not helpful for the goal that, in the six-party talks, all parties agreed that they wanted," he said.

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