The secretive communist state was also said to be stepping up military drills near the border with the South, which is on heightened alert for a possible repeat of the deadly naval clashes seen in 1999 and 2002.

Pyongyang has warned it would take "self-defence measures" in response to any tougher international sanctions over its May 25 nuclear test and South Korea said Monday that a long-range missile launch appeared possible.

"We have detected signs that North Korea is preparing to fire an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The North has moved a long-range missile to a new base in Dongchang-ri along its northwestern coast and a launch could take place in one or two weeks, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying.

The North has another site on the east coast at Musudan-ri, from where it fired a Taepodong-2 rocket over Japan in April. It said the launch was to put a satellite in orbit but other nations saw it as a disguised missile test.

"Along with new facilities, Dongchang-ri has a geographical advantage. It's close to Pyongyang as well as (the nuclear facilities at) Yongbyon," said Professor Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

"It's also hard for US spy planes to get easy access. I'm not sure whether North Korea will fire a missile towards the Pacific or southwards," he said.

US defence officials have also reported vehicle activity that suggests the North may be preparing to launch a long-range missile.

"We have seen some signs that they may be doing something with another Taepodong missile but at this point it's not clear what they're going to do," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Manila on Monday.

Tensions have been running high for the past week after Kim Jong-Il's regime tested a nuclear bomb for the second time and then launched a series of short-range missiles and threatened possible attacks on South Korea.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak warned Monday that Seoul would "never tolerate" the North taking a "path of military threats and provocation."

"We sincerely hope for peace, but will sternly deal with any threats," he said in a regular radio address.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka, speaking after a meeting with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, said Tokyo "would never accept" a North Korea with nuclear weapons.

Steinberg for his part said that the North, after its nuclear and missile tests, needs to understand that "this is a very bad path to go down."

But Pyongyang remained defiant.

The North "will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent in order to safeguard its ideology and system," the official KCNA news agency said Monday.

South Korean and US forces on the peninsula are on heightened alert after the North warned of a possible attack in response to Seoul's decision to join a US-led initiative to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

"North Korean troops have been conducting more drills, especially along the west coast," another South Korean defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The North has used high-speed boats for landing exercises and banned ships from some areas of the Yellow Sea until the end of July, Yonhap reported.

"We are not ruling out the possibility that North Korea may try to raid one of the islands," it quoted an unidentified defence source as saying.

But many experts see the exercises as calculated brinkmanship by an isolated regime that is unlikely to risk its own survival.

"Provocative activities are highly possible in the Yellow Sea," said Professor Kim.

But "North Korea knows that an attack on a South Korean island would escalate into full-scale war. I don't think North Korea will commit suicide," he said.

The growing tensions cast a shadow over a major summit bringing together the leaders of South Korea and Southeast Asian nations on the southern resort island of Jeju.

Seoul has imposed tight security for the June 1-2 meetings with 5,000 police deployed in Jeju, a surface-to-air missile unit set up close to the convention centre and navy ships are patrolling the coast.

earlier related report
Southeast Asian chiefs rap NKorea nuke test as provocative
Southeast Asian leaders Monday described North Korea's nuclear test as a threat to world peace, backing efforts by their summit host South Korea to restrain the communist state.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and the other leaders agreed the test is a "provocation" which "seriously undermines peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the world," Seoul's presidential office said.

The office, in a statement after the first day of Seoul's summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said leaders urged the North to comply with UN resolutions and return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

Seoul planned the two-day summit to strengthen economic, political and cultural links with ASEAN, correcting what analysts said had been an excessive diplomatic focus on Northeast Asia.

But North Korea moved high up the agenda after it tested its second nuclear bomb on May 25. It followed up by renouncing the 1953 armistice on the Korean peninsula and launching six short-range missiles.

Pyongyang also appears to be preparing a long-range missile test.

Lee, eager to forge stronger political and economic ties with ASEAN, announced plans for a major boost in trade, aid and personnel exchanges to pave the way for the world's "era of Asia."

He said South Korea would aim to double annual trade with Southeast Asia to an annual 150 billion dollars over the next six years, from the current 90 billion.

As a step towards this goal South Korea and ASEAN's 10 members will Tuesday sign an investment accord, completing negotiations on a free trade pact after four years of talks.

Lee said his country will also double its official development assistance to ASEAN to 400 million dollars a year by 2015.

"I believe expanding our trade is critical to overcoming the global economic crisis," he said in his opening speech.

South Korea will invite 7,000 students and workers from ASEAN countries by 2015 for vocational training, and send 10,000 volunteers to Southeast Asia to pass on expertise in the information and telecommunications sector.

Under the slogan "Partnership for real, friendship for good," South Korea has spared no effort to publicise the summit in the southern resort island of Jeju and ensure security for visiting leaders.

A surface-to-air missile unit has been set, 5,000 police have been deployed in Jeju and navy ships are patrolling the coast.

South Korea sees ASEAN's almost 600 million people as a market for its export-dominated economy that can offset the recession in developed countries.

Panitan Wattayanagorn, spokesman for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, told AFP the two sides needed each other.

"Time is critical as ASEAN needs a close partner, and vice versa, to be able to deal effectively with the impact of the economic crisis," Panitan said.

Resource-poor South Korea is also eyeing the bloc's abundant raw materials.

ASEAN is already South Korea's third-largest trading partner and its second largest destination for overseas investment.

"South Korea's Asian diplomacy has focused too much on Northeast Asia, largely Japan and China. It has actually paid too little attention to Southeast Asia despite its huge potential," said Cho Hung-Guk, a Southeast Asia expert at Pusan National University.

The issue of ASEAN's most troublesome member -- Myanmar -- is also likely to be aired in Jeju.

Abhisit, the current ASEAN chair, was trying to convene a meeting of leaders later Monday on the sidelines of the summit, diplomatic sources say.

Myanmar's junta has caused international outrage by putting pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, after an uninvited American swam to her lakeside home.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. The summit marks the 20th anniversary of a formal dialogue between the bloc and South Korea.

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