The warning came as the communist state has been ratcheting up tensions, preparing to launch what it claims is a satellite, declaring an all-out confrontation with the South and arguing over the inter-Korean sea border.

"If the US forces keep behaving arrogantly in the area under the control of the North and the South, the KPA (Korean People's Army) will take a resolute counteraction," the North's military said in a statement.

It did not elaborate on what the counteraction would involve.

The statement, carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), was sent to the South's military on Saturday, KCNA said.

According to the statement, US soldiers were stalking in groups in the demilitarized zone, a four kilometer (2.5 miles) wide buffer zone dividing the Korean peninsula, at will.

It said 62 US military personnel and 58 vehicles entered the zone and got as close as 100 meters from the military demarcation line (MDL), the zone's central division, on as many as 66 occasions up to February 20 this year.

On January 5 and 21, US troops came as close as 30 meters to the MDL and took photographs of a North Korean guard post and monitored the movement of North Korean vehicles, it said.

South Korea's defence ministry brushed aside the warning, saying US soldiers were engaged in "legitimate" monitoring acts in the South's side of the buffer zone.

The ministry said it might send a reply to the North's notice following consultations with authorities concerned.

Fears of a border clash have grown since the North in late January cancelled all peace accords with Seoul, including one recognising the sea border as an interim frontier.

The North's military announced last week it is "fully ready" for war with the South.

Pyongyang said Tuesday it is preparing to launch a satellite, a move the United States and its allies believe is a pretext for a long-range missile test.

The North is angry at conservative South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak, whose government has scrapped his predecessors' policy of reconciliation and exchange with Pyongyang.

About 28,500 US troops are stationed in the South to help defend it against the communist North. The Korean war of 1950-53 ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

US envoy to try to deter NKorea missile launch
A US envoy will try to deter North Korea from test-firing a missile when he visits Asia next week amid efforts to end the stalemated talks for its nuclear disarmament, an official said Thursday.

Stephen Bosworth, the new special envoy for North Korea, is due to travel to Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and Moscow to consult with Washington's partners in the six-party disarmament negotiations.

Diplomats from the five capitals late last year hit a deadlock in the negotiations when their counterparts from Pyongyang balked at their demands for verifying disarmament.

Under a landmark deal in 2007, North Korea agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons in exchange for energy aid.

Bosworth "will work closely with our allies and partners to convince North Korea to become a constructive part of the international community," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on announcing his trip to the region next week.

However, in the last few weeks, North Korea has lashed out at South Korea's new government and vowed to go ahead with what US officials fear would amount to a test launch of a missile that could eventually carry a nuclear warhead.

North Korea has said it is making brisk preparations to launch what it calls an experimental communications satellite despite growing appeals around the world to call off its plans.

"The North Koreans talk about it being a satellite launch," said Christopher Hill, the former chief US negotiator with North Korea who remains in charge of East Asian affairs.

"You can see that it looks an awful lot like a missile launch," Hill said in a separate press conference here.

He said that Clinton spoke by telephone with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan on "what the best way would be to deter this launch."

"We're trying to figure out a way forward and part of Ambassador Bosworth's trip will be to continue that process," Hill added.

Clinton said that Bosworth, whom she announced last week as the pointman on North Korea policy, will help "to realize our goal of the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner."

Bosworth said he did not rule out meeting North Korean officials on the trip, but added that the decision depends on US consultations with its partners and on "what we hear back from the North Koreans."

During a February 20 stop in Seoul as part of her maiden diplomatic tour, Clinton named Bosworth, a former diplomat who served as US ambassador to South Korea, to a new post of special representative for North Korea.

Clinton said Bosworth would be the senior official handling North Korean issues, reporting to her and President Barack Obama.

The chief US diplomat said senior State Department official Sung Kim, who was closely involved in negotiations along with Hill, would be the special envoy to the six-party talks on the North's denuclearization.

Kim, who is due to travel with Bosworth, would continue to lead day-to-day efforts.

Hill meanwhile criticized as "quite inappropriate and quite unhelpful" North Korea's tirades against South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, who has taken a harder line against the communist neighbor in his year in office.

North Korea has branded Lee as everything from "traitor" to "despicable human scum" and accused the conservative president, who has taken a tougher line on Pyongyang, of bringing the divided peninsula to the brink of war.

Lee, who marked a year in power on Wednesday, has halted his predecessors' policy of offering almost unconditional aid and massive economic assistance to the impoverished but nuclear-armed North.

He instead promised massive economic aid but only if the North fully denuclearizes.

The South says naval clashes along the disputed Yellow Sea border are possible. Seoul's defense chief said last week that his troops would target North Korean launch sites if ships came under missile attack.

Hill also said that the United States has no intention of trying to topple North Korea's regime despite concerns about its behavior and questions over succession.

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