With the North's weapons programme causing heightened tensions with the United States, a foreign ministry spokesman said North Korea was being forced to increase its "defence capabilities" because of Japan's actions.

The spokesman, in a statement released late Tuesday, said Japan's launch of a satellite rocket this week was a covert attempt to bolster its arms programme. He accused the United States of double standards in condemning North Korea but doing nothing over Japan's weapons buildup.

Japan's launch of an H-2A rocket on Monday sought "to revive militarism," said the spokesman, quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"This situation compels the DPRK (North Korea) to further increase its independent defence capabilities," the spokesman warned. "The US and Japan will have nothing to say about this."

Japan has said the H-2A is intended for commercial satellite launches. But the Pyongyang ministry said Japan's "moves to revive militarism, which is getting pronounced as never before these days, have reached a dangerous phase."

The official claimed Japan was secretly developing missiles, and had technology and enough plutonium to produce nuclear weapons.

"The US has kept mum about the danger of Japan's missiles while zealously encouraging its development behind the scene," he said.

North Korea set off worldwide concern in August 1998 by test-firing what intelligence officials believe was a long-range missile carrier over Japanese territory into the Pacific.

The North claimed it was a test of a multi-stage satellite launcher. Under international pressure, the North has since promised to freeze such tests until 2003.

But relations with the United States reached a new low last week after President George W. Bush said the Stalinist state was part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq spreading weapons of mass destruction.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday Tokyo would work patiently towards restoring diplomatic ties with North Korea despite the hard line taken by Bush.

"The Bush administration voiced concern over North Korea in the context of the fight against international terrorism," but Washington and Tokyo were still ready to hold serious talks with the reclusive nation, Koizumi said.

A recent US Central Intelligence Agency report said North Korea has been active in missile sales to conflict regions, including the Middle East.

US intelligence information quoted by South Korean officials said tests on engines for long-range missiles had intensified over the past year.

The United States secured the evidence through an intelligence satellite that North Korea tested a long-range missile engine several times last year, Yonhap news agency said.

The agency quoted a South Korean government source as saying: "North Korea has tested a new engine every year to extend its missile range since it fired a Taepodong missile in August 1998."

The United States sent satellite pictures showing the latest tests to South Korea last year, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.

The United States now fears North Korean missiles could reach Alaska and that it could export its weapons' know-how to other unfriendly states.

Bush, who is to visit Seoul for talks on February 20, warned the United States was ready to take action against the so-called rogue states. But US Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirmed Tuesday that Washington was also ready for unconditional talks with the North.

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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