"The launch of the artificial satellite 'Kwangmyongsong-1' which powerfully demonstrated the might of the socialist Korea ... substantiated the wise guidance of Kim Jong Il," the official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary monitored here.

Kwangmyongsong (bright star) refers to Kim.

In 1998 North Korea fired a Taepodong-1 missile with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. It later referred to the test-firing as a satellite launch.

In September 2004 North Korea prepared to test a longer-range missile at its base on the northeast coast but canceled the launch at the last moment.

The commentary comes aming jitters over North Korea's possible launch of the Taepodong-2 inter-continental missile, which has drawn warnings from the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The multi-stage Taepodong-2 is believed to have a range of up to 10,000 kilometers, which would put the continental United States within striking distance.

US officials said North Korea had finished fueling the missile at a launch pad in the remote northeast of the country, moving a key step closer to a test launch, the New York Times reported late Sunday.

The Times said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Beijing over the weekend to press Pyongyang to cancel plans for the launch.

State Department officials had telephoned North Korean delegates at the United Nations in New York, it said.

North Korea has remained silent over whether it has fueled the missile, a step that would indicate a test-firing is imminent.

Japan has warned it would move to impose sanctions on North Korea in cooperation with the United States in the event of a launch. South Korea would come under pressure to end its policy of reconciliation with its neighbour.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Sunday that the United States wants the North to renew its moratorium on missile tests and return to six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions.

"We expect them to maintain the moratorium," he said.

In March 2005 Pyongyang ended a moratorium on long-range missile tests that it had declared in 1999.

North Korea last year announced it had nuclear weapons and since November has boycotted six-nation talks on its atomic aspirations, saying it will not come back to the bargaining table until the United States lifts sanctions against it.

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