The North, which insists that the launch is to send up a satellite as part of a peaceful space programme, has come under growing international pressure to abandon the launch, as well as its nuclear programme.

"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army warned.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," the spokesman said, in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The retaliation, it added, would be aimed "not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds of the US and Japanese aggressors and the South Korean puppets who hatched plots to intercept it."

The North said last month it was preparing to launch a satellite, but the United States and its allies believe Pyongyang would be more likely to test a long-range missile that would deepen global tensions.

Pyongyang has previously tested missiles under the guise of launching a satellite, and analysts have said recent comments from the North indicated it was on the verge of another attention-grabbing test.

The US military has said it is confident that it could intercept a rocket if required to do so.

In unusually blunt remarks, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the US Pacific Command based in Hawaii, said that interceptor ships were ready "on a moment's notice."

"Should it look like it's something other than a satellite launch, we will be fully prepared to respond as the president directs," he said in a recent interview with ABC News.

"Odds are very high that we'll hit what we're aiming at. That should be a source of great confidence and reassurance for our allies," he said.

Charles McQueary, the Pentagon's director for operational tests and evaluation, said the United States has carried out three test scenarios for a North Korean missile launch and destroyed the target each time.

"To me, that was a demonstration that this system has the capability to work," McQueary told a congressional panel.

The latest comments came as South Korea and the United States prepared to launch annual military manoeuvres Monday that the North has described as a prelude to war.

The United States has urged Pyongyang to avoid provocations and to tone down its rhetoric, with new US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, warning Pyongyang on Friday against a launch.

"We agreed strongly it would be best if North Korea did not fire a missile, whether it's a satellite launch or missile," he said after meeting Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone in Tokyo.

"For us it makes no difference."

Although Pyongyang has insisted its launch is part of a space programme, the United States and South Korea fear that Pyongyang intends to test it longest-range missile, which in theory is capable of reaching Alaska.

South Korea has said it regards the North's nuclear and missile capability as a serious threat and indicated a new round of sanctions would follow if Pyongyang goes ahead with a launch.

earlier related report
NKorea orders military to be combat ready: state media
North Korea has ordered its military to be combat ready, state media said early Monday, ahead of joint US-South Korean manoeuvres that Pyongyang has characterised as a prelude to war.

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, the Korean People's Army (KPA) described the exercises starting Monday as "unprecedented in the number of the aggressor forces involved and in their duration."

"The KPA Supreme Command issued an order to all service persons to be fully combat ready," the statement said. "This is a just measure for self-defence for protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the nation."

"A war will break out if the US imperialists and the warmongers of the South Korean puppet military hurl the huge troops and sophisticated strike means to mount an attack," it said.

The North added in a separate statement that it would cut off North-South military communications during the exercises, saying that maintaining normal channels would be "nonsensical."

The communist North has repeatedly accused Seoul and Washington of using the annual exercises, which this year will last until March 20, as a pretext to launch an attack on it -- a claim denied by the United States and the South.

The joint exercise will involve a US aircraft carrier, 26,000 US troops and more than 30,000 South Korean soldiers.

The exercises come at a time of high tensions with the South and growing pressure for the North to end its nuclear weapons programme and drop plans to test its longest-range missile.

North Korea has said it is preparing to fire a rocket for it says will be a satellite launch, although Seoul and Washington say the real purpose is to test a missile that could theoretically reach Alaska.

In a separate statement, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said it would retaliate "with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means" if there was an attempt to intercept its satellite.

The North has previously warned that the "slightest" conflict during the exercises could rapidly escalate and fears of a border clash have grown since Pyongyang on January 30 scrapped peace accords with Seoul and warned of war.

The United States has responded to the communist state's comments by urging Pyongyang to tone down its rhetoric.

North Korean generals last week met with the US-led United Nations Command on easing tensions ahead of the joint exercises, in the first such talks in almost seven years, but reportedly used the opportunity to criticise the latest exercises.

The North is angry at South Korea's conservative leader Lee Myung-Bak, who scrapped his predecessors' policy of offering virtually unconditional aid to Pyongyang.

The two Koreas are still technically at war because the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended only in an armistice.

A US-led UN force fought for the South in the Korean war and the United States still stations 28,500 soldiers there to back up Seoul's 680,000 troops against the North's 1.1 million-strong armed forces.

The exercises come as the new US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said Friday a threat by Pyongyang against South Korean commercial airliners near its airspace was "a provocation."

The communist regime late Thursday announced it could not guarantee security for Seoul's flights near its territory because the US-South Korean military exercises could trigger a war.

"This is, we believe, very undesirable," Bosworth told reporters after meeting Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone in Tokyo. "It's a provocation and it's unacceptable."

Bosworth is currently on a tour of China, Japan and South Korea, in an effort to dissuade the North from a launch and to try to persuade it to resume stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News