North Korea threatens attack on US troops

NORTH KOREA threatened to launch a pre-emptive attack on United States troops last night as America and Britain continued to amass forces for an imminent attack on Iraq.

The North Korean threat carries real menace as it comes 24 hours after the country announced it was putting its nuclear facilities on a "normal footing,'' sparking fears it was about to produce weapons material.

North Korea has kicked out inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and stepped up work on its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

North Korean missiles can reach South Korea and Japan, two Asian allies where Washington keeps troops. North Korea is also believed to be developing ballistic missiles that can reach Hawaii and parts of North America.

North Korea's tough comments came a day after US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld labelled the Pyongyang government a "terrorist regime".

Foreign ministry spokesman Kim Pyong-gap said North Korea was "fully ready to have a war" with the US unless it halted its build-up of troops in the region.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Kim told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The situation is very tense. A very dangerous situation has been created where the sovereignty and security of our state has been severely endangered by the hostile policies of the United States towards North Korea.

"The Bush administration called our country one of the axis of evil and they adopted their national policy that they will not recognise our system.

"The United States brought 24 fighter planes, the B52 was one, through South Korea. They've deployed them.

"The real meaning is they're going to invade our country by force.

"The responses for this are very clear. If the United States steps their boots over the borderline, we will take strong counter-measures.

"The pre-emptive attack is not something only the United States can do.

"We can also do that when it is a matter of life or death.

"We are fully ready to have a conversation with the United States. At the same time, we are fully ready to have war with the United States.

"We have no intention of making nuclear weapons and our nuclear activity for the present situation are only for generating electricity, for a peaceful purpose."

Washington notched up the rhetoric last night by saying the United States was ready to deal with "any contingencies" involving North Korea.

But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer also sought to play down their significance: "We've heard much talk from North Korea before."

Although Washington has repeatedly denied it plans to invade North Korea, Rumsfeld said restarting the nuclear programme would give the North a troubling option making nuclear weapons for itself or selling them to any other country.

"That is something the world has to take very seriously," he said. "It is a regime that is a terrorist regime. It is a regime that has been involved in things that are harmful to other countries."

It is unclear how far North Korea has proceeded in reactivating its nuclear facilities, which include a five-megawatt nuclear reactor, a storage of 8,000 spent fuel rods and a plant where those rods could be reprocessed to yield enough plutonium for four or five bombs in a matter of months.

Meanwhile, as weapons inspectors prepared to return to Baghdad this weekend, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the US report to the UN Security Council had provided the world with clear evidence that Iraq produced weapons of mass destruction.

It was now up to Baghdad to avoid war by disarming.