North Korean threat over US war games

North Korea says it has put its armed forces on full combat readiness in response to the start of annual military exercises by US and South Korean troops.

A military official warned on state television that any attempt to shoot down the long-range missile that North Korea plans to launch soon would be seen as an act of war. Pyongyang routinely accuses the US and South Korea of aggressive intentions, but the rhetoric this time has been more strident.

It called the drills a provocation that would only occur "on the eve of a war", and threatened to cut off its hotline with the South's military – the one telephone link between the two armies that are massed either side of the border.

American Marines will conduct live-fire drills north of Seoul, within an hour's drive from the border, and a US aircraft carrier will take part in the exercises. The drills come as Pyongyang prepares to test-fire its Taepodong-2 missile and at a time of speculation about the health of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Pyongyang says the launch would be for a communications satellite – under UN sanctions it is barred from firing a ballistic missile. The US, Japan and South Korea say they see no difference between a satellite and a missile launch.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," a spokesman for the Korean People's Army said on North Korea's one television channel.

Media reports last week speculated that Japan and the United States might intercept any ballistic missile launched by the North, though neither has said publicly it would.

Both countries, and South Korea, have said they see no difference between a satellite and a missile launch because they use the same technology and the same rocket.

Washington repeated its call on Pyongyang to halt words and actions that add to tensions.

"Korea needs to refrain from provocative rhetoric and actions that only further destabilize the region," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.