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.

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